- Gavin Esler
- 7 Nov 06, 04:08 PM
Here in Washington over the usual heart-attack-on-a-plate American breakfast this morning I turned to the Washington Post for a summary of the elections.
"Has there ever been a more negative, dispiriting election?" , clearly not expecting an answer. So I switched to the New York Times. Columnist Barry Schwartz "the sorriest, sleaziest, most disheartening and embarrassing in memory." Then I switched on the TV just to cheer myself up. The presenter was asking a pundit from the Los Angeles Times what it would be like if the Democrats failed to win the House of Representatives.
"Jonestown," replied the pundit, referring to .
So it all sounds fairly promising, then. The television advertisements I've been watching have almost all been negative. The overwhelming impression is that hundreds of criminals, rapscallions and ne'er do wells are currently on the loose on the streets of the United States all seeking election for the opposing political party.
The Democratic campaign seems to boil down to one phrase: "We're not George Bush." And the Republican campaign is similarly taut: "We're not George Bush either."
Somehow, however, American voters will sort it all out.
Gavin Esler presents 91热爆 TV's Newsnight programme
- Claire Bolderson
- 7 Nov 06, 03:16 PM
I just got the latest press release from 鈥檚 office telling me where the Ohio Republican鈥檚 going to be today, still campaigning right up to the very last minute.
That鈥檚 been one of the features of this election. Incumbents who鈥檝e barely had to raise a smile let alone millions in campaign funds in years have been out doing things the old fashioned way, shaking hands, kissing babies, searching for those last elusive votes that could make all the difference.
Deborah Pryce (number four in the Republican leadership in the House of Representatives) is more used to making guest appearances at events held by less secure members. But this year, her own race is so tight that she鈥檚 been working her district hard. She even embarked on a bus tour late last week. I spent the best part of a day trying to track it down. She wasn鈥檛 at the bowling alley or the hot dog restaurant on the schedule her office sent out. The owners in both cases were a little bemused, they鈥檇 heard she might be dropping by, but it was at Tommy鈥檚 Pizza that things descended into farce.
Picture a tiny pizza restaurant, a 91热爆 reporter and producer and twelve large German MPs. They too were trying to see the Congresswoman campaign. I鈥檓 not sure they ever did. I caught a glimpse of her bus go sailing past the window so jumped in the car in hot pursuit, her press secretary on the cell phone shouting instructions 鈥渢urn left, turn right鈥 until we arrived at the rally she was going to address.
Finally we got the interview and the sound we wanted. I still wonder what happened to the Germans.
Claire Bolderson presents 91热爆 radio's World Tonight and Newshour
- The Reporters
- 7 Nov 06, 03:04 PM
Wonkette captions a photo from New Mexico showing incumbent Republican Representative Heather Wilson handling a newborn infant amid a crowd of smiling voters: "Rep Heather Wilson gives out an infant to a potential supporter". ()
Captain's Quarters argues the Democrats will find themselves in a fix if they fail to win convincing majorities across Congress: If they win by a only small majority in the House, their policies will be dictated by conservative Democrats while if they lose, they will tear themselves apart in a hail of recriminations. ()
Washington Monthly predicts a "perfect storm" in key battleground Missouri where the new Diebold voting machines, it reports, created problems within an hour of polling stations opening: "Having run out of options, poll workers told voters to vote manually and stuff the ballot box." ()
- Nick Miles
- 7 Nov 06, 12:30 PM
A crisp autumn day on the east coast of America, and as the sun came up a trickle of voters began to go to the polls.
Some of the earliest voters were candidates themselves. Clearly they're aware that it's never too late for a photo opportunity that could motivate their supporters to go to the polls.
Most of the seats are safe of course, they're either in strongly Republican or Democratic territory but the television networks are camped out en mass in the key states: Pennsylvania, Ohio, Missouri, Virginia and Tennessee. There's intense scrutiny of these races both to try to assess the voter turnout and keep an eye on the electronic voting machines that have caused so much concern amongst many voters.
Thankfully the one thing missing now are the campaign ads. This has been the most expensive mid-term election in history and many people we've been speaking to were heartily sick of the carping adverts from both political parties. They're now consigned to 2008. Everyone now is watching and waiting for what Election 2006 has in store.
Nick Miles is a Washington correspondent for 91热爆 News.
- The Reporters
- 7 Nov 06, 12:01 PM
Over on the 91热爆's editors' blog, world news editor Jon Williams has been blogging about preparing to cover the election results...
"Tonight we'll get our information from our US sister network ABC. It's a military style operation - and true to form, we've embedded some 91热爆 staff with our American friends. They'll be the key points of liaison for information from field producers and the Quarantine Room, as it becomes available throughout the evening."
Click here to read Jon's entry in full.
- Adam Brookes
- 7 Nov 06, 04:27 AM
The wisdom 鈥 if such a thing exists as the polls open 鈥 is that the Democrats will take the House of Representatives, but they probably won鈥檛 take the Senate.
If the wisdom proves correct and the House falls to the Democrats, what would it mean for the rest of the world?
Well, possibly not much, it seems to me.
Congress has little weight in the formulation of specific foreign and national security policies. Those get set by the executive branch of government 鈥 the administration.
The future of America鈥檚 involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan and the responses to Iranian and North Korean nuclear programmes are being decided in the National Security Council, the Pentagon, the Department of State and the White House.
(One important caveat: there is said to be an intense and important discussion on Iraq and what on earth to do about it taking place between a bipartisan group of Senators. But that may be the exception that proves the rule.)
If the Democrats win the House, they will have some tools with which to confront the White House.
They could threaten to cut off funding for foreign policies they don鈥檛 like by voting down spending bills that are funding the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, for example.
They can haul political appointees like Donald Rumsfeld over the coals in Congressional hearings.
And they can create a political atmosphere which makes it very difficult for the president to do his job.
But what a huge political risks these options bring. What Democrat would want to be seen cutting off funding for troops in the field? Or bringing down members of the president鈥檚 cabinet in the middle of a war? Or creating a ferocious partisan atmosphere which leads to political paralysis?
Two years before a presidential election, the last thing the Democrats want is to open themselves up to accusations of being defeatist or incompetent on national security.
I talked to a senior American diplomat at the weekend 鈥 one not involved in Iraq or Middle East policy. He was deeply pessimistic about American foreign policy in the short to medium term. 鈥淲e鈥檙e adrift,鈥 he said.
The elections seemed suddenly to fade in significance. America鈥檚 foreign-policy crisis 鈥 and it is thought to be a crisis by many in the diplomatic and intelligence communities 鈥 won鈥檛 be solved by emboldened Congressional Democrats.
Adam Brookes is the 91热爆's Pentagon correspondent.
