http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail....9260&con_type=3Glitches greet early voters Republican control of Congress was on the line Tuesday in an election colored by voters' dismay over the Iraq war and misbehavior in Washington.Calvin Woodward
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Republican control of Congress was on the line Tuesday in an election colored by voters' dismay over the Iraq war and misbehavior in Washington.
Voting at sunrise, President George W Bush implored Americans of all political leanings to make their voices heard, and Democrats, too, hustled to get their supporters out.
About a third of American voters were using new equipment, and problems in several states were reported right away. The Justice Department sent a record 850 poll watchers to 69 cities and counties to safeguard against fraud, discrimination or system malfunctions in tight races.
Glitches delayed voters in dozens of Indiana and Ohio precincts. In Delaware County, Indiana, officials planned to seek a court order to extend voting after an apparent computer error prevented voters from casting ballots in 75 precincts.
Florida officials, working to avoid a repeat of the vote-counting debacle of 2000 that left Americans in suspense over whether Bush or Democrat Al Gore had been elected president, fielded extra voting machines, paper ballots and poll workers.
In the Jacksonville suburb of Orange Park, Florida, voters were forced to use paper ballots after an electronic machine broke.
At stake in the midterm election are all 435 House of Representatives seats, 33 in the Senate, 36 races for governor, ballot measures on gay marriage, embryonic stem cell research, the minimum wage and more - plus the overarching fate of Bush's agenda in the last two years of his presidency.
Bush cast his ballot at the Crawford Fire Station near his ranch just as Texas polls opened, then switched from partisan campaigner to democracy's cheerleader.
"We live in a free society and our government is only as good as the willingness of our people to participate," Bush said, his wife Laura at his side and an "I voted" sticker on the lapel of his brown suede jacket.
"Therefore, no matter what your party affiliation or if you don't have a party affiliation, do your duty, cast your ballot and let your voice be heard."
In a climate inhospitable if not toxic for incumbents, Democrats hoped finally to answer the rout that drove them from legislative power in 1994.
Even their opponents conceded Democrats were certain to make gains and, despite brave words for public consumption, Republicans worried that control of the House would slip from their hands.
Bush voted in his home state of Texas, finishing a five-day round of campaigning mostly in Republican strongholds. His presence was a mixed blessing for candidates attracted to the attention and fundraising prowess generated by a president but nervous about being associated too closely - or even seen with - an unpopular leader.
Charlie Crist, a Republican running to succeed Bush's brother Jeb as Florida governor, did not show up for a planned appearance with Bush in a safely Republican section of the Panhandle, an embarrassing snub on the eve of voting.
Bush gamely pressed on with lacerating attacks on Democrats at a Pensacola rally of 7,000 loud supporters. "The Democrat philosophy is this: If it breathes, tax it, and if it stops breathing, find its children and tax them," Bush shouted.
Former president Bill Clinton responded sharply in kind: "They can't run anything right," he said, taunting Republicans about Iraq, Hurricane Katrina recovery and scandal in Washington.
Democrat Jim Webb, a former navy secretary, author and less-than-smooth campaigner, invited Clinton to his side to close out a Virginia Senate campaign he was given little chance of winning.
His tight race with Senator George Allen became emblematic of unexpected Democratic opportunities in state after state.
"I have a strong feeling that on Wednesday morning the White House is going to wake up and look across at the Capitol dome and say: `We got a problem,' " Webb told a crowd pressed into a Roanoke firehouse.
Democrats needed to gain 15 House seats or six in the Senate to form a majority, a development that would give them a stronger voice against a war that has cost more than 2,800 American lives and has come to be seen by most Americans as misbegotten.
Sharply critical of Bush's prosecution of the war, Democrats nevertheless lack a common position on how to get the US out.
Final opinion polls indicated a tightening race; others suggested the Democrats were still far in front in national sentiment. At least two dozen Republican House seats were at risk and four Republican Senate seats appeared to be in big trouble.
The campaign's final hours brought fresh evidence of the enormous cost.
Spending by the two national parties surged in the final week as both invested in television commercials.
In all, the two parties spent about US$225 million (HK$1.76 billion) up to Tuesday in campaign activities independent of the candidates themselves. ASSOCIATED PRESS