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United States News Title: Tea Party hands Republicans first wins in US mid-term elections REPUBLICANS have claimed their first victories in US elections today, with Tea Party-based Rand Paul and Marco Rubio among those winning their Senate races. Two years after Barack Obama won a landslide election and helped boost majorities of his party in Congress, the outlook was bleak for his ruling Democrats today. The predicted win for Mr Paul is an early boost for the ultra-conservative Tea Party, which has a batch of endorsed Republican candidates running in the mid-term elections. Mr Paul beat state attorney-general Jack Conway, despite a late campaigning effort by former president Bill Clinton to try to win the seat for Democrats. ``There is a Tea Party tidal wave coming to Washington,'' Mr Paul told reporters earlier after casting his vote. Mr Rubio appeared to have captured the second Senate seat of the night for the Tea Party over Republican governor Charlie Crist and Democrat Kendrick Meek in Florida. Republican candidate Dan Coats beat Democrat Brad Ellsworth in an Indiana Senate seat vacated by prominent party colleague Evan Bayh. Republicans snatched their fourth Senate win when John Boozman defeated sitting Democratic senator Blanche Lincoln in Arkansas, giving the Republicans a net gain of two so far. Meanwhile, Democratic West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin won his Senate bid after vowing independence from Mr Obama and vowing to shoot down climate change legislation. But Democrat Chris Coons was projected to have defeated oddball Tea Party candidate Christine O'Donnell - who declared in a television advertisement that "I am not a witch" - to hold onto the Delaware Senate seat once occupied by Vice-President Joe Biden. And Connecticut's top prosecutor Richard Blumenthal preserved a crucial Senate seat for the Democrats in defeating wrestling tycoon and Republican Linda McMahon Democrats are predicted to lose control of the 435-seat House of Representatives and possibly the 100-seat Senate, putting the US President at risk of a stalled political agenda as the Republican Party takes the leading role. To win majorities, Republicans need 39 extra seats in the House and 10 in the Senate. The task is considered much more difficult for Republicans in the Senate because only 37 members of the total are up for election. Early exit polls confirmed voters are in a mood to punish Mr Obama's Democratic Party. The key issue for voters is their disillusionment with the Democrats’ handling of the economy. As polling booths began to close, exit polls show 53 per cent of voters have a negative opinion of Democrats while 43 per cent view the party favourably. The exit poll results appear to be mainly a case of voters lashing out at the ruling party rather than giving a ringing endorsement of Republicans. Despite the vote appearing to favour Republicans, a majority of voters had negative opinion of the party as well. About 23 per cent of those polled said they voted to send a message in favour of the Tea Party, which is backing a series of endorsed Republican Party candidates including Sharron Angle, who is battling Democrat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in Nevada. Democrats have controlled both chambers of Congress since 2006, and a vote against the party is not surprising with a Democrat in the White House. The magnitude of an expected swing against the ruling party is what has surprised commentators most. The level of frustration and anger over the economy has emerged as the defining issue compared with past party changeovers, such as 1994 and 2006. These mid-term elections have been billed as a referendum on Mr Obama’s policies with unemployment remaining at 9.6 per cent. According to exit polls, 88 per cent believed the economy is in a bad state and 62 per cent said it was headed in the wrong direction. The message before official results are tallied is that the Obama White House and Democrat leaders have failed to communicate the reasons behind measures taken to avoid a worse recession by pumping stimulus money into the economy and bailing out banks after the financial crisis. The President launched a late bid for Democrat voters to turnout to the polls earlier today with prerecorded radio interviews and messages on Twitter. Conscious that a high voter turnout was likely to favour his party, Mr Obama urged Democrats to vote and to persuade their friends as well. Chris Van Hollen, chairman of the Democrat campaign committee, today continued to put a bright face on the outcome, saying “this election is far from over”. And House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was similarly upbeat, declaring that "with the early returns and the overwhelming number of Democrats who are coming out, we're on pace to maintain the majority in the House of Representatives''. Republicans have campaigned on a platform of government spending cuts, low taxes and repealing Mr Obama's healthcare reforms. The results of mid-term elections are expected to force Mr Obama to reshape his policy approach if Republicans dominate the congress. He does not face election for another two years. - with AFP
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#1. To: WhiteSands (#0)
All true. Its as much fun noting the angst within the old guard GOP as it is within the Democrats.
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