As dawn struggles to break in Wapping, the US midterms are by no means over but the focus is now squarely on three races: Virginia, Missouri and Montana. The Democrats need to win all three to take control of the Senate. The House is already theirs.
Montana is the clearest of the three remaining races, with early counts showing a healthy lead for Jon Tester, the Democratic challenger, who has 53 per cent of the vote to Senator Conrad Burns's 45 per cent.
But in Missouri and Virginia, things remain much closer and more contentious, with reports in the US of emails and phonecalls flying between lawyers as the two parties ready themselves for recounts. In both races, the Democrats appear to hold the slenderest of leads. Jim Webb is ahead by fewer than 3,000 votes in Virginia, where in a reprise of the 2000 presidential race in Florida, the Greens seem to have cost the Democrats a more comfortable majority.
In Missouri, a see-saw race -- which has been the closest of all the senate contests since polling began earlier this year -- has Claire McCaskill, the Democratic challenger, around 14,000 votes clear with 80 per cent of the vote counted. But her lead of 49 per cent to Jim Talent's 48 per cent is not enough to avoid a recount. Expect diplomatic language, but don't expect surrender.
The dust is still settling on the final House results, but most predictions see the Democrats gaining more than 25 seats, surpassing the 15 they needed for a majority.
 The networks are agreeing that Bob Corker has won the senate seat in Tennessee vacated by Bill Frist, the retiring Republican leader in upper chamber. Harold Ford, the Democratic challenger, is winning plaudits for making the race so close, but it leaves the Democrats having to win three out of three senate seats to control the chamber. Republicans celebrate, above.
News from Virginia is that George Allen, the Republican incumbent, is going to bed and not expecting a result any time soon. He trails Jim Webb, the Democratic candidate, by fewer than 4,000 votes. Lawyers and recounters are waiting by their phones. We will have to wait for the result here.
But the surprise for us is the sudden tightening of the Missouri race, which has dramatically placed Claire McCaskill, previously trailing by around 5 per cent of the vote, into a dead heat with Jim Talent, the Republican incumbent.
So the Democrats need to win the last three competitive races and two are dead-heats and the last, according to early returns, is leaning their way in Montana. The night, or is it morning now, goes on.
 Catherine Philp in Los Angeles looks through the ballot initiatives put before the American people tonight, with measures on abortion rights and gay marriage at the forefront...
One of the most contentious votes in the country looks like being decided very soon: abortion rights activists are projected to win their battle to keep abortion legal in South Dakota. With 59 percent of the vote counted, the pro-choice campaign is leading the pro-lifers by 55 to 45 percent. The vote was scheduled after abortion rights activists gathered a petition to challenge the almost total ban on abortion passed in the state earlier this year and the campaign has been one of the bitterest and most emotive in the whole race.
Pro-lifers intended to use the ban as a challenge to Roe v Wade, the Supreme Court ruling that legalised abortion 33 years ago. But critics say they overplayed their hand by refusing to allow an exception for rape and incest, turning off many of even the most conservative religious voters. Expect the pro-life lobby to try again with another ban granting this exception, which polls indicate voters would accept. But the defeat of the ban will give pause to 12 other states who were watching the battle carefully as they considered their own abortion bans. The photograph on the right shows anti-abotion protesters in Texas.
But there was bad news for gay and lesbian Americans – same-sex marriage and civil unions are taking a pounding in votes across the country. Seven states – Arizona , Idaho, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia and Wisconsin -- have votes on banning gay marriage and any kind of legal partnerships to give equal rights to gays; Colorado's proposition bans gay marriage but allows legal "domestic partnerships."
Six of those states have either voted to ban gay marriage or are projected to do so, leaving just Arizona and Idaho in play. Putting gay marriage on the ballot was widely seen as a device to get out the conservative vote among disillusioned Republicans who might otherwise stay at home. Democrats concocted a counterploy to put a rise in the minimum wage on the ballot to counter the Republican turnout, a measure that is proving popular. Four of the six Midwestern states voting on that issue are projected to vote for a rise. Two more – Arizona and Nevada are still voting.
No question, it's been a successful night for the Democrats -- retaking the House of Representatives for the first time since 1994 and helping themselves to 3 Republican senate seats -- but is the limit of the swing in sight?
As it stands at 5am, the Democrats need to win three out of four senate seats from four close races where the vote is still being counted and as far as we can see, they are only in with a clear chance in two of them. The races are as follows:
Virginia: a last minute surge of support, apparently from black voters in Richmond, has given Jim Webb a barely visible, 3,000-vote lead over George Allen with 99 per cent of the vote counted. It looks like a recount, but could clearly turn blue.
Montana: early counting out in the Rockies, where Conrad Burns, the Republican candidate has been dogged by gaffes on the campaign trail (calling firefighters "piss poor" wasn't great) and links with the Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff. He is trailing the Democratic challenger Jon Tester by 42 per cent to 56 per cent. Looks like a Democratic win.
But is that as far as the Democrats can go? A split of 50 / 50 seats in the Senate, with Dick Cheney, the vice-president, casting the deciding vote?
Because in Missouri, where 57 per cent of the vote is in, Jim Talent, the Republican incumbent leads Claire McCaskill, the Democratic state auditor, by 51 per cent to 49 per cent, a lead that has held, if narrowed, since the first projections were made.
And in Tennessee, the Democratic challenger, Harold Ford, has been unable to close the gap further on Bob Corker, the Republican incumbent, who leads by 51 per cent to 48 per cent with 88 per cent of the votes counted.
With the Virginia senate race down to a single precinct and fewer than 7,000 votes separating George Allen from his Democratic challenger, Jim Webb, eyes are beginning to turn to the votes won by the Green Party candidate, G.G Parker, who appears to have more than enough to deliver the election, and a critical senate seat to the Democrats. It looks like a recount already. Ralph Nader in 2000 anyone? The blogs are already angry:
"If the Greens cost us the Senate by defeating Webb I will make it my lifes mission to (figuratively) destroy their party in any way that I can going forward. The wrath of this particular liberal would know NO bounds," writes Club Lefty.
 The Democrats have taken control of the House of Representatives for the first time since 1994. Wins in Indiana, Kentucky, Arizona, Ohio and Florida carried the party over the threshold of 218 seats needed to dominate the chamber. Nancy Pelosi, a declared foe of the Bush Administration, becomes Speaker of the House, control of the House committtees reverts to the Democrats and the battle lines are redrawn in Washington.
Tim Reid writes from Washington...
Twelve years of Republican rule have come to an end, but the scale of the Democrat victory in the House looked not as big as some analysts predicted a fortnight ago.
In the Northeast and Midwest, the Democrats picked up seats they had targeted for a takeover in the House, but were doing less well in the South.
In Indiana, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Connecticut, Democrats had defeated nearly all the vulnerable Republican incumbents and also won seats that had been declared as too close to call by pollsters.
All three vulnerable Republicans in Indiana - Chris Chocola, John Hostettler and Mike Sodrel - were defeated.
In Pennsylvania, Curt Weldon, a 10-term veteran, and Don Sherwood, elected in 1998, had lost their seats. Mr Sherwood, a Republican veteran who admitted to an extra-marital affair, lost heavily.
In Connecticut, Anne Northrup, a seven-term veteran, lost to Chris Murphy, a race that was dominated by opposite positions on the Iraq war.
In Kentucky, Nancy Johnson, a five-term Republican, was defeated.
In Florida, the Republican stand-in for the disgraced congressman Mark Foley, exposed for sending lurid emails to congressional pageboys, narrowly lost to his Democrat challenger in a heavily Republican district. Clay Shaw, a Florida Republican veteran, also lost.
Tom Reynolds, an embattled Republican in New York state, held his seat.
 Within minutes of the polls closing in California, the networks are predicting the return of the Governator, who was up against Phil Angelides, the outspoken Democratic state controller. More soon.
The Mark Foley scandal came home to roost in Florida tonight, when the Republicans lost a previously solid congressional seat to an unheralded Democratic challenger. Moments ago, Joe Negron, the candidate called at the last minute to replace Foley, whose name remained on the ballot, conceded the race to Tim Mahoney.
With the defeat of Don Sherwood, a Republican who admitted to having a mistress during the campaign, also confirmed in Pennsylvania, the Democrats are closing in on the gain of 15 seats they need to retake the House.
CNN has them needing five more. CBS, punchy as ever, says it's just 4 to go. If the Democrats take control, Nancy Pelosi will become the first woman to be majority leader in the House of Representatives.
 There is still no sign of daylight between George Allen, Republican, and Jim Webb, Republican-turned-Democrat, in the senate race in Virginia. With 93 per cent of the precincts reporting, NBC can find no more than 30,000 votes between the two, with Allen (above) holding the tiny lead.
With Tennessee now going the way of the Republicans, with Bob Corker on track to win the seat vacated by Bill Frist, the party's former leader in the senate, the Democrats must win Montana, Missouri and Virginia to get their six seats.
Joseph Lieberman has won the senate race in Connecticut as an independent, marking the end of a bizarre year at the polls for the former Democratic vice-presidential candidate. Defeated in the primaries by Ned Lamont, an anti-war challenger with nothing more than grassroots anger at Lieberman's hawkish foreign policy to go on, Lieberman promised to return as an independent. Tonight he comfortably held off Lamont, celebrating with the words: "I'm Joe Lieberman, and I approve of this election."
Read the latest wrap-up of all the action so far tonight from our team in Washington.
Catherine Philp writes on one of the dozens of ballot initiatives also being decided in tonight's elections...
A blow for immigrants in Arizona and elsewhere: the state has voted to make English the official state language. Official documents will no longer be published in Spanish and other languages as they used to be, to help new immigrants yet to develop their language skills. The success of the ballot initiative reflects the growing national hostility to illegal immigration. Arizona also has proposals on the ballot to deny bail and lawsuit damages awards to illegal immigrants.
Three hours after the first polls closed, it is safe to say that the Democrats have taken three Republican seats, inching their way to the gain of 15 they need to retake control of the 435-seat House of Representatives.
Two of those gains came in races in Kentucky and Indiana that we highlighted earlier this evening, where Brad Ellsworth, a conservative Democrat beat Republican John Hostettler, and John Yarmuth, a newspaper editor, toppled Anne Northup, another Republican incumbent. In the third race we pointed out, Republican Ron Lewis held off his Democratic challenger, Mike Weaver, in Indiana.
The third Democrat win also came deep in traditionally Republican territory, where Representative Chris Chocola lost to Joe Donnelly in Indiana, a victory that would have been unthinkable little more than a year ago.
Elsewhere, we are keeping our eye on a dirty race in Pennsylvania, where Don Sherwood, a Republican whose mistress accused him of throttling her, is trailing his Democratic challenger, Christopher Carney by 20 points.
In Ohio, early results show Deborah Pryce, a leading Republican, under surprising pressure from Mary Jo Kilroy. Pryce made the unfortunate mistake of naming Mark Foley, the disgraced congressman from Florida, as one of her closest friends in Washington just before his scandal broke.
Speaking of Mr Foley: his name remains on the ballot in the 16th district in Florida after his abrupt resignation for sending sexually explicit messages to Washington interns. Tonight his solidly Republican seat is under threat from Tim Mahoney, an unknown Democrat, who has 49 per cent of the vote to Mr Foley's replacement, Joe Negron's, 48.
One piece of good news for Republicans may come from Florida's 13th district, iconic for Democrats because it used to be held by Katherine Harris, the Republican official in charge of the presidential recount in 2000. Her successor Vern Buchanan appears to be beating off a stern challenge from Christine Jennings.
CNN have taken an early punt on the Rhode Island Senate race -- a topsy turvy contest between Lincoln Chafee, a moderate Republican and the only senator to vote against the war in Iraq, and his more conventional Democratic rival, Sheldon Whitehouse. CNN have called it for Whitehouse. If the prediction is right, the Democrats have now taken 3 out of the 6 senate seats they need to win control of the chamber. They also appear to be holding all those, including Maryland and New Jersey, that had been threatened by the Republicans.
 Another seat up for grabs is the Maryland Senate seat vacated by the veteran Democrat, Paul Sarbanes. Despite not many returns, the US networks are comfortably calling it for Ben Cardin, (left) a former congressman who was thought to be under threat from the more charismatic Republican candidate, Michael Steele.
 Catherine Philp, who is covering the governors' races from Los Angeles, brings us this update:
Intriguing news from the key swing state of Ohio, where voters have elected their first Democrat governor for 16 years. Republican governorships were thought to be less vulnerable to Democratic assault than seats in Congress because they depend on local issues. But their victory in the first of the three dozen gubernatorial races to be decided has some holding early celebrations.
Ohio played a decisive role in the 2004 race for the White House and is destined to be a key battleground the next time around. The stakes are high in gubernatorial races because of the impact a popular governor can have on his state during a presidential election – some analysts suggest their influence can be measured as up to a couple of percentage points.
Massachusetts, a more predictably blue state, also returned to Democratic control with Deval Patrick (right) triumphing over Republican Kerry Healey in Massachusetts to become the state's first black chief executive. New York, the country's third most populous state, is also looking likely to switch to Democratic control.
Speaking at the Democratic party headquarters in Washington, Senator Charles Schumer, in charge of the party's senate campaigns just said: "So far, so good". With CNN following CBS and confirming Sherrod Brown as the winner in Ohio, things are shaping up well for the Democrats. Schumer also mentioned that he had it from "authoritative sources" in Virginia, where Republican George Allen is neck and neck with Democrat challenger Jim Webb, that most of the results in so far were from the southern part of the state, traditionally friendlier for Republicans.
One Democrat Senate seat under pressure from the Republicans this time around was in New Jersey, where Robert Menendez, the incumbent, was accused of corruption and, more vaguely, ties to the Mob. But early results show him holding on, with a lead of 52 per cent to 47 per cent for Thomas Kean Jr., the son of the highly respected former governor of New Jersey, Thomas Kean, chair of the 9/11 Commission.
 The rest of the American networks are starting following CBS on the Pennsylvania Senate result: NBC has now called the win for the Democrats. Bob Casey has defeated Rick Santorum (above), the Republican incumbent. If the Ohio result holds, the Democrats now have two of the six Senate gains they need to retake control of the chamber. Eyes will now turn to Rhode Island, Missouri, Montana, Maryland and Virginia for the other four.
An update on those three seats in Kentucky and Indiana we highlighted earlier. Remember, the Democrats need a net gain of 15 seats to win control of the House and these 3 are all in districts traditionally held by Republicans.
Early results show two of them heading the Democrats way and the Republicans holding one:
In Indiana's 8th District: Brad Ellsworth, the local sheriff and a social conservative, is leading John Hostettler, the incumbent, by 62 per cent to 38 per cent with 39 per cent of votes in.
In Kentucky 3rd District: John Yarmuth is leading Anne Northup by 50 per cent to 48 per cent with 83 per cent of votes.
In Kentucky 2nd District: Ron Lewis, a Baptist preacher, is holding off Mike Weaver, a former Army colonel, by 51 per cent to 49 per cent. Just 13 per cent of votes in.
CBS News are leading the way with brassy predictions tonight. They called Sherrod Brown as the winner of the Senate seat in Ohio on the basis of just 10,000 votes and now the station is claiming that Bob Casey has defeated Rick Santorum, the Republican incumbent in Pennsylvania. Everyone else is hanging back on both of these results. We wish we knew more. Every time we go to the CBS website, our computer crashes, so we're extremely wary.
 The most closely watched Senate race of them all: George Allen, cowboy-boot wearing, dodgy-mouthed Republican versus Jim Webb, Republican Navy Secretary turned Democrat, is turning out to be as close as everyone predicted. With votes from 24 per cent of the precincts in Virginia, the polls show Webb (left) leading by 50 per cent to 49 per cent, but with results coming from all over the state, urban areas, rural areas and the suburbs, the difference is meaningless. This one could take a while.
Very early reports from CBS (based on just 10,000 votes) that Sherrod Brown, the Democratic challenger for the Senate seat of Republican Mike DeWine, in Ohio is on course to win. DeWine has struggled under the corruption problems of the Republican party at large and in Ohio in particular but this would be a significant result for the Democrats: one of the six gains they need to retake the Senate. We will have a clearer idea in half an hour or so.
Continue reading "Ohio: Democrat on course for Senate" »
Senator Dick Lugar, the influential chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who has been senator of Indiana for five terms, has coasted to victory. There was no Democratic candidate, which made it one of the earliest results to call.
Three races we'll be watching over the next hour as a sign of how the rest of the night is going to go...
Indiana 8th District: John Hostettler (R) Brad Ellsworth (D)
Hostettler is a staunch conservative fighting off Ellsworth – the local sheriff and a conservative Democrat. Too soon for any prediction.
Kentucky 3rd District: Anne Northup (R) John Yarmuth (D)
Northup is up against Yarmuth, the editor of a local alternative newspaper, in a mainly Democratic district. Early results are showing a tiny lead for Northup but it's too soon to say.
Kentucky 2nd District: Ron Lewis (R) Mike Weaver (D)
An emblematic race: Lewis, a Baptist preacher and face of the religious right when he was elected to Congress 12 years ago is up against Weaver, a retired Army Colonel and symbol of the new, conservative-minded Democrats. CNN reports an early lead for Lewis.
The first polls have closed. Early -- very early -- predictions from CNN: Bernie Sanders, longtime independent congressman in Vermont, is heading for the Senate. No surprise there. We will expect the first results in the next half an hour, House races in Indiana and Kentucky will show how far the Democrats have managed to encroach on Republican territory. In Indiana, some counties are still open because of problems earlier in the day.
 So far, with just the vague portents of high turnout and dissatisfaction with President Bush to go on, frustration with America's new voting machines and old election tricks is the main issue. No one seems sure whether problems are just straight-forward bungling or something more sinister.
Try these: in New Jersey, voters have complained that screens are already set to accept a vote for Robert Menendez, the Democratic Senator under pressure after a nasty campaign that has accused him of being corrupt and tied up with the mob.
One district in New Mexico found itself 2,400 ballot papers short this morning. That left just 100 to go around between 2,500 voters. Hmm.
We're fairly sure this was non-partisan: in Pennsylvania a voter attacked a machine with a paperweight.
Hedging their bets, Move On.org, the liberal campaigning group, has offered a reward of $250,000 for evidence leading to a felony conviction for "partisan voter suppression or electronic voting fraud". We don't think its Democrats they're after.
Counties in Pennsylvania and Indiana, both states with vital House races, are extending their voting hours because of problems with the new voting machines. Lawyers for the Democratic party in Tennessee, also with a key Senate race, have gone to court asking for longer voting hours.
More from Catherine Philp, Times correspondent in Los Angeles:
A judge in Ohio ordered polls there to stay open until 10pm after problems with voting machines, delaying the outcome of one of the election's key races for three hours. Officials warned that the delay could eventually be much longer if lawyers chose to take on a protracted battle over the glitches.
In Colorado, Democrats filed a request for a two-hour extension in voting for all of Denver County after polls opened without complete lists of registered voters. Polling stations then ran out of emergency ballots, forcing some to leave without casting their vote.
Problems with machines were reported in location across the country, from Ohio to New Jersey to Florida. But not all the difficulties could be blamed on machines. Mark Sanford, the governor of North Caroline, was turned away at his polling place because he'd forgotten his voter registration card.
An AP exit poll on the issues that decided US voters makes grim reading for the Republicans: 6 out of 10 voters disapprove of President Bush's job handling, 6 out 10 disapprove of the war in Iraq and, interestingly, 62 per cent said national issues -- seen as a strength for Democrats -- were more important than local ones.
More from AP:
Bush: Nearly six in 10 voters today disapprove of the way President Bush is handling his job. About four in 10 approve. That's down from 53 percent approval in 2004, and 67 percent just before the 2002 midterm elections.
About four in 10 "strongly" disapprove of the president's work, more than double the number of strong approvers.
Iraq: 6 in 10 voters disapproved of the war in Iraq.
Only a third said the war has improved the long-term security of the United States, down from almost half -- 46 percent -- in the 2004 national exit poll. Some two-thirds said Iraq was very important to their vote, and they strongly favored Democratic House candidates.
Issues: Despite the importance of Iraq, even more voters said the economy, government corruption and scandal were very important to their votes.
Eight of 10 said the economy was very important; almost as many said corruption and scandals were very important. Terrorism was rated at least as important as Iraq.
Local vs National issues: Far more voters said national issues mattered more than local issues in their House vote, but there was no difference in how those groups voted in House contests.
Chelsea Clinton was one of thousands of Americans with voting problems this morning. The daughter of the former President and local Senator turned up to vote in Chelsea, on the west side of Manhattan, to be told she wasn't registered in the area. It turned out it was the voter registration book that was in the wrong place.
Hillary is expected to win handsomely in New York tonight, where Eliot Spitzer, the Wall Street-busting state attorney general, is on course to become Governor, replacing George Pataki, a Republican who has run the state for eight years. Reports today that Ms Clinton spent the most of any candidate in the country -- strange, considering she had an easy race, but a sign of her fundraising power as thoughts turn to 2008...
Various reports, notably from Connecticut and Virginia, claiming than usual high voter turnout. In recent years, the Republicans have been the master-organisers, focusing volunteers on the final 72 hours of contests. But this year, both sides have been making a clear effort.
Nowhere more so than Connecticut, normally a Democratic state, which this year saw Ned Lamont, an anti-war Democrat surprisingly beat Joe Lieberman, the former Democratic vice-presidential candidate, at the primary stage of the Senate race. The result is a run-off tonight with Lieberman running as an independent. He is comfortably ahead in the polls but Lamont won widespread admiration for his "net-roots" internet campaign earlier this year. An interesting race but it will not change the make-up of the Senate.
Both sides in Virginia, which has the highest-profile Senate race in the elections, are also reporting high turnout, although without numbers.
Welcome to our rolling coverage of the US midterms. We will be here until sunrise, bringing you the first rounds of exit polls at around midnight, and then the results as they come in. With the last polls showing a tightening race, US coverage today has focused on problems with the new voting equipment -- electronic ballots are being used for the first time in 33 states tonight -- and turnout.
In an atmosphere of high suspicion on both sides, problems have ranged from the mundane:
In Cleveland, voters rolled their eyes as election workers fumbled with new touchscreen machines that they couldn't get to start properly for about 10 minutes.
"We got five machines -- one of them's got to work," said Willette Scullank, a trouble shooter from the Cuyahoga County, Ohio, elections board.
... to the more ominous. The FBI have reportedly been called to investigate phone calls in Virginia which have directed voters to non-existent polling booths. The Washington Post has sample ballots being handed out by homeless people in Maryland, a potentially decisive Senate race, which identify the state's Republican Governor, Robert Ehrlich, and Senate candidate, Michael Steele, as Democrats.
Erik Markle, one of the people handing out literature for Ehrlich, who is seeking reelection, and Steele, the current lieutenant governor who is campaigning to replace retiring Sen. Paul Sarbanes (D), said he was recruited at a homeless shelter in Philadelphia.
After a two-hour bus ride to Maryland, Markle said the workers were greeted early this morning by first lady Kendel Ehrlich, who thanked them as they were outfitted in T-shirts and hats with the logo for Ehrlich's reelection campaign. Nearly all of those recruited, Markle said, are poor and black. Workers traveled to Maryland in at least seven large buses.
Tom Baldwin, in The Times Washington bureau, offers the following glossary of terms for tonight's election:
Congress: composed of two houses: the 435-member House of Representatives, all of whom are up for election tonight; and the 100-member Senate, where 33 seats are at stake.
Foley-gate: ever since Watergate, the suffix “gate” seems to get attached to every scandal — this one involves Republican Congressman Mark Foley who sent sexually-charged computer messages to male teenage interns.
GOP: the Grand Old Party, another term for Republicans, much loved of headline writers.
Continue reading "Know your wedges from your GOPs" »
US news outlets have spent the last week producing more graphics, specials, battleground bulletins and complicated congressional predictors than we know what do with. Here is a selection to guide you through the day and into the night of coming results:
CBS News has an unfussy, if slightly clunky, Election Briefing Book with a good timetable of the evening's races and a guide to spending on the big races.
Continue reading "What we're watching" »
 Writing in The Times today, Christopher Hitchens explains to British readers that American elections are often not "about" what might be the big issues — Iraq, the budget deficit, the environment — but other, inconsequential-seeming things:
"It has been a quarter of a century since I moved to the United States but now it comes back to me how I used to resent the way in which Americans made up their minds. In the first election I was able to follow — the Nixon-Kennedy race in 1960 — there were American nuclear bases in Britain, and great American decisions to be taken about free trade and other matters that affected us all directly. Yet from the American press I learnt that the whole thing hinged on Nixon’s unshaven jowls as exposed in the first televised debate."
Hitchens takes as an example the Virginia senate race, being fought to a dead heat between George Allen, the Republican incumbent, and James Webb, his Democratic challenger, over cowboy boots, unknown ethnic slurs and the name of the Washington Redskins.
New Jersey and Missouri are two other crucial senate contests with their own strangely prominent issues.
Continue reading "What makes Americans choose?" »
 It took, oh, no time at all for American political commentators to ask whether the death sentence imposed on Saddam Hussein in Baghdad yesterday was the Republican's "November Surprise" for this year's elections.
Today's Washington Post: "The timing of the verdict, which had been scheduled weeks ago, stirred anxiety among Democrats who worried it could be a 'November surprise' that would persuade Republicans to turn out, much as the release of an Osama bin Laden tape just before the 2004 election was credited with helping to put Bush over the top. Some voiced suspicions that the Bush administration had orchestrated the court schedule to influence the vote, a contention the White House rejected.
Continue reading "November Surprise?" »
The Washington Post reports today that more than 600 political advertisements will be launched on the American airwaves this weekend and take the cost of ads alone, on radio and television, past $2 billion for the elections. From what we've seen so far, they'll be a mixture of honeyed smiles, calming music and vicious sideswipes at undeserving rivals.
There are exceptions, of course. Have a look at this article about the congressional race in Vermont where the candidates, Martha Rainville, a Republican, and Peter Welch, a Democrat, have promised to campaign positively: "They're both very decent, hard-working, conscientious people," says Brian Dubie, the state's Republican lieutenant governor. "We're proud of both of them."
Continue reading "Fighting on the airwaves" »
 The US congressional elections are now only four days away, and from now until next Tuesday, and deep into election night, we will be bringing you news, updates, analysis and links to the best American coverage of the contest.
To start you off, here is our Washington bureau's question and answer guide to the elections, which are crucial, if a little mysterious to British readers. The very basics are these:
Elections are taking place for both houses of Congress: the House of Representatives and the Senate. They happen every two years.
Congressmen and women, who serve in the House, are elected for two-year-terms, so all 435 of them are up for re-election.
Senators serve six-year-terms and are admitted every two years, so a third of them, 33 out of 100, are up for re-election.
A total of 458 seats are up for grabs on Tuesday. Since 1994, the Republican Party has controlled both Houses of Congress, and since the last elections, in 2004, they have enjoyed a majority of 5 in the Senate, and 12 in the House.
This year's midterms are generating enormous, frankly pathological, excitement in America because polls are widely predicting that, riding on disaffection from the war in Iraq and Republican corruption scandals, the Democrats will retake the House and even have a chance of taking control of the Senate, changing the shape of the Bush presidency. Our recent coverage is here. More soon.
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