In the two most heavily publicized contests–mayor of New York City and governor of Virginia–the winner was a businessman with deep pockets who pledged to use his nose for profit in the interest of the public good.

In New York City, Michael Bloomberg, who essentially reinvented business-news reporting on his way to becoming a billionaire, spent at least $50 million of his own cash (probably more) to win the dubious privilege of succeeding Rudy Giuliani as mayor. In Virginia, Mark Warner, who made $100 million in the cell-phone business, spent at least $5 million of it to win–as a Democrat–in a state that had long since come to be dominated by Republicans.

Meanwhile, on the Left Coast, another wealthy businessman turned politician–former Los Angeles mayor Richard Riordan–used Election Day to announce that he would seek the Republican nomination for governor of California. Gov. Gray Davis, a Democrat and lifelong politician, should be worried.

This week’s results aren’t a victory for Democrats or a defeat for Republicans. I see the vote totals as a further warning to both parties that Americans are looking for fresh-faced leaders from outside of politics, or mavericks within it, who aren’t burdened by the old think and shibboleths of partisanship.

Voters want leaders, not loyalists.

There’s no good news for George Bush in any of this. The Democrats took back governorships in Virginia and New Jersey they hadn’t held for years, and the “Republican” who won the mayor’s race in New York City is a member of the GOP in name only. He certainly isn’t Bush’s brand: Bloomberg is pro-choice, anti-death penalty, pro-gun control. If he is close to any “national” Republican it is Sen. John McCain–Bush’s intra-party nemesis.

In an exercise in preemptive damage control, Bush political guru Karl Rove kept Bush far away from these races. Rove had a legitimate reason, of course: there is a war going on, and the president genuinely wants bipartisan sentiments to prevail. It wouldn’t do to hit the road with red-meat rhetoric against Democrats.

But Rove also knew that the gubernatorial races were likely losers for Republicans, and that if the nominally Republican Bloomberg pulled off an upset, the victory would (justifiably) be credited to Giuliani’s decision to endorse him. Instead of campaigning in any of those places, Bush merely recorded get-out-the-vote announcements to be used in GOP phone-bank operations.

Conservative Virginia Republicans are furious with the White House. The Republican National Committee, chaired by former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore, funneled lots of cash into the campaign of GOP candidate Mark Early. But the Virginians argue that a visit or two by a president who won the state handily, and who has an 85 percent approval rating, would have turned the tide.

I don’t think so. The message out of Virginia is that business oriented, nonideological centrism wins, whether the nominal label is “Democratic” or “Republican.” Early, a strict pro-lifer, was simply too far to the right for the increasingly suburb-dominated vote in Virginia (especially the part near Washington). Warner, by contrast, campaigned hard as a supporter of gun rights–so much so that he was able to prevent the NRA from officially endorsing his foe. That, in turn, helped Warner limit the usual damage to a Democrat in the rural areas.

In New York, Bloomberg’s campaign was run almost entirely by Democrats, including some of the top consultants to Al Gore’s presidential campaign. As Democrats, they were able to exploit the growing divisions among members of their own party in the city. Blacks, still by far the most loyal Democratic voters, supported Democratic candidate Mark Green by 3-1. But half the Hispanic vote went to Bloomberg, and the overall turnout was low in a city where Democrats outnumber Republicans 8-1.

Bloomberg’s themes: I am new to this. I have so much money that I am incorruptible and inherently independent. My heart is in the right place, and my thinking hasn’t been ossified by a life of marching in lock step to a party ideology. In these tough economic times, you need someone who’s proven his mettle in the American business world–the most competitive arena on the planet.

Not a bad message. All it took was $50 million of his own money to sell it.