November 7, 2006
It's the last day of campaigning in the mid term US congressional elections. The judgement is that the Democrats will gain control of the House but not the Senate as there has been a late surge towards the 'last-stand ' Republicans. From what I can gather the strategy of the Democratic leaders has been to "lie low" and let anger toward Bush sweep them into office.

Peter Brookes
The local squabbles in Jersey, Missouri, Tennessee and Virginia are crucial and the gerrymandering Republicans have been much better in getting their supporters to the polls. I presume that Republican state officials in a number of states will make use of the legal system to exclude otherwise eligible voters; or ensure that there aren't enough voting machines to accommodate all the voters in Democrat districts.
Will the Republicans be pushed back to the South? It does seem that the Democrats are not all that interested in developing policies to lead Americans in a new direction from Republican America. The election is still a referendum on Bush administration policies in Iraq.
As Paul Krugman says in the New York Times:
Pesident Bush isn’t on the ballot tomorrow. But this election is, nonetheless, all about him. The question is whether voters will pry his fingers loose from at least some of the levers of power, thereby limiting the damage he can inflict in his two remaining years in office...But here’s the thing: no matter how hard the Bush administration may try to ignore the constitutional division of power, Mr. Bush’s ability to make deadly mistakes has rested in part on G.O.P. control of Congress. That’s why many Americans, myself included, will breathe a lot easier if one-party rule ends tomorrow.
We should remind ourselves that Bush is the media face whilst Cheney & Rummy are the dirty engine of this conservative Republican administration.
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Thompson - you are obviously very worried and somewhat pathetically desperate to use the sort of intemperate and pejorative language above. It is clear that it hurts you very badly to see anyone in office who has given your side a sound thrashing for the past six years, no matter what goals have been kicked.