Posted on 11/07/2006 9:23:16 AM PST by meg88
WASHINGTON (AP) - Voters put the Republican congressional majority and a multitude of new voting equipment to the test Tuesday in an election that defined the balance of power for the rest of George W. Bush's presidency.
Both parties hustled to get their supporters out in high-stakes contests across the country, Democrats appealing one more time for change, and appearing confident the mood was on their side. Republicans conceded nothing as their vaunted get-out-the-vote machine swung into motion.
Voting at sunrise, Bush switched from partisan campaigner to democracy's cheerleader as he implored Americans of all political leanings to cast ballots.
"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."
About a third of voters were using new equipment, and problems in several states were reported right out of the gate. The government deployed a record number of poll watchers to the many competitive races across the country.
Glitches delayed voters in dozens of Indiana and Ohio precincts. In Delaware County, Ind., 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, fielded extra voting machines, paper ballots and poll workers.
"This is my duty," said 41-year-old Mario Georgalas, who voted Republican in Miami Beach on his way to work. "I was in the navy for six years. That's why I vote." In the Jacksonville suburb of Orange Park, Fla., voters were forced to use paper ballots after an electronic machine broke.
The uncertainty of it all made many jittery, candidates included.
In Tennessee, where Republican Bob Corker and Democrat Harold Ford Jr. were in a pitched battle for a Senate seat, even a spotty rain made Corker edgy.
"Any candidate doesn't like to see rain," Corker said, greeting supporters on a damp Tuesday morning in Kingsport. "You don't know what kind of variables that brings into it."
At stake in the midterm election were all 435 House 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.
Unsurprisingly, the chairmen of the Democratic and Republican parties talked optimistically as voting opened Tuesday.
"I believe we're going to defy the experts and maintain our majority in the House and the Senate," Republican chairman Ken Mehlman said on CBS's "The Early Show." Countered Howard Dean, his Democratic opposite number: "If you want change, we can give you change."
That's just what 60-year-old Ron Bowman, a Democrat from Windsor, Conn., had on his mind when he went out to vote first thing Tuesday. "It was a chance for a change," he said, after casting his ballot for Democratic senatorial candidate Ned Lamont over incumbent Senator Joe Lieberman, running as an independent.
In Texas, Bush finished a restrained five-day round of campaigning mostly in Republican strongholds around the country. His presence on the stump 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, bailed from 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 that 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.
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 U.S. lives and has come to be seen by most Americans as misbegotten.
Sharply critical of Bush's prosecution of the war throughout the campaign, Democrats nevertheless lack a common position on how to get the U.S. out.
Republicans have been the acknowledged champions at getting supporters out to polling stations, a critical skill in midterm elections when turnout is typically low, around 40 per cent, and one that heightened suspense over which party would hold the levers of power at the end of the counting.
"Democrat philosophy is this: If it breathes, tax it, and if it stops breathing, find its children and tax them"
Thank you Mr. President for the new tagline.
yup, it's on the line because republicans failed to address real issues that are at the heart of many american people including conservatives.
Many of the republican clowns the people elected have compromised their integrity, especially many of the christians. They put us to shame. It seems that there's no sane choice in this election either. It's either the Loony wacko leftist liberals or the rich, obese moneygrabbing republicans that use their religious affiliation only to advance their own interests.
A simple person like me who barely makes it from paycheck to paycheck thanks to the so called "healthy" competition (with places lik India) that our republican friends think we need. People like us who have kids being homeschooled while our tax money goes to the public schools with no voucher system in sight. People like me whose 2nd ammendment rights to bear arms have been trampled on by a myriad of regulations to the point that I can't even dream of being able to afford owning a weapon for hunting because even if I did, I couldn't use it thanks to all the fees and licenses and regulations.
I think republicans deserve to lose control of Congress... to teach us to quit electing people that talk out of both sides of their mouth.
The plain old fashioned conservative person endowed with common sense worth more than all the legaleese bable spewing from today's super-legislators have virtually no chance at being elected.
We've forgotten the KISS principle and we're paying for it.
And yet, for all the 'Blue Wave' and 'Retaking Congress' rhetoric, I note this:
The Dems projected gains, taken at THEIR face value (dem pundits' best hopes), come in below the average turnover in congress for a second term president.
Does anyone else find that interesting? I know the MSM won't. If the dems do retake the house, there'll be no rain on THEIR parades, I betcha.
Just an observation.
My Entire family relatons on all sides, including myself, STOMPED Glass getting to the Voting Booths this morning!!!!
ALL Voted STRAIGHT REPUBLICAN TICKET, Yes to ALL Tax Exemptions, NO to ALL TAX Increases!!!!
Ya'll Get out there and VOTE!!!!
:-)
D2
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