US Midterms; a Republican Carnage?
Update 2: The butcher's toll is high; Rumsfeld resigns and former CIA director Robert Gates replaces him. Mark Thoma also supplies links and as always comments from his loyal readers.
Judge for yourselves;
As I make ready for bed the Democrats have gained 12 seats in the House (15 needed to take control) and 3 in the senate (6 needed to take control). Will both chambers shift hand here? We will see in the morning.
The results this morning confirm the consensual prediction before the elections; the House goes to the Democrats and the Senate is still too close to call. In the Senate the latest results show 4; Virginia and Montana are swing states here and the results were/are according to the FT below 'too close to call' just yet. Concerning the House though, the Democrats secured a whopping net gain of 28 seats well enough to gain them majority in that chamber.
All eyes turned to two key states of Virginia and Montana on Wednesday as control of the Senate hung in the balance in the US mid-term elections.
Democrats scored a massive victory in the Congressional elections by seizing control of the House of Representatives for the first time in 12 years.
Voters delivered a resounding rebuke of President George W. Bush and his Iraq policy by giving Democrats at least 28 extra seats in the House. The gains gave them control of the legislative body for the first time since the Republicans routed the Democrats during the 1994 mid-terms.
“Today, the American people voted for change, and they voted for the Democratic party to take them in a new direction,” said Nancy Pelosi, the leader of the House Democrats who is slated to become the first female speaker of the House of Representatives. “And that is exactly what we intend to do.”
The battle for the Senate remained tight. While Democrats claimed four of the six seats necessary to wrestle control of the Senate, results for Montana and Virginia were too close to call.