- %3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/2006/10/">< October 2006
- %3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/">Main
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%3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/richard_greene/2006/11/good_night_and_good_luck.html">Good Night, and Good Luck
- %3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/richard_greene/">Richard Greene
- 10 Nov 06, 09:57 PM
Well, the mid-terms have come and gone, a wave crashing over the country, Congress, the White House and a bunch of very over-worked 麻豆社 journalists.
With the voting over, this blog is wrapping up too - but first, thanks are due to many.
I personally wouldn't have made it through the election season without %3Ca%20href="https://www.factcheck.org/">FactCheck.org, which works overtime to keep the politicians honest (more power to you!), and Larry J Sabato's %3Ca%20href="https://www.centerforpolitics.org/%27">Crystal Ball, whose predictions were uncannily accurate.
Thanks also to everyone who made this blog such a success - the 15 麻豆社 journalists who cheerfully added it to their already huge list of responsibilities, and to you readers who contributed over 3,000 comments on everything from the economics of the oil business to where to get grits in London.
This blog may be closing up shop now, but keep your eyes peeled - Matt Frei resumes his Washington diary next week. Look for him on Wednesday.
Till then, good night, and good luck.
Richard Greene is the 麻豆社 News website's Washington reporter
%3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/jamie_coomarasamy/2006/11/macaca_moment.html">Macaca moment
- %3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/jamie_coomarasamy/">Jamie Coomarasamy
- 10 Nov 06, 05:06 PM
There was frustration with Iraq and concern about corruption - but you could argue that the real clincher for the Democrats, in the Senate at least, was the presence of mind of a young American of Indian descent.
When Virginia鈥檚 (now outgoing) Republican %3Ca%20href="https://allen.senate.gov/public/">Senator George Allen turned his gaze towards 20-year-old S R Siddarth - a 鈥渢racker鈥, filming the Allen campaign for his Democratic rival, Jim Webb - and referred to him as 鈥渕acaca鈥, a type of monkey, it turned the campaign on its head.
The footage of the incident became a %3Ca%20href="https://youtube.com/watch?v=r90z0PMnKwI">YouTube phenomenon and Senator Allen was accused - not for the first time - of casual racism.
He may have been able to shrug it off, were it not for his status as a potential presidential candidate and the awkward way he handled the later revelations of his Jewish heritage.
In a few short weeks, the senator went from being a shoo-in to getting booted out of office.
For their part, the Allen camp tried to portray their opponent %3Ca%20href="https://www.webbforsenate.com/home.php">Jim Webb as a sexist; using comments he鈥檇 made about women when he was in the Navy and passages from his novels as evidence. But it didn鈥檛 work.
A majority of Virginia鈥檚 women voters supported Jim Webb. And so - crucially, as it turned out - did a majority of independents. Six years ago, they鈥檇 largely swung towards George Allen.
What role the macaca moment played in all of this is hard to judge, but it was a reminder that race is still a politically volatile issue here. And - in the contest which finally deprived the Republicans of their Senate majority - it may have even been a decisive one.
Jamie Coomarasamy is a Washington correspondent for 麻豆社 News.
%3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/the_reporters/2006/11/midterms_blog_of_blogs_7.html">Mid-terms blog of blogs
- %3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/the_reporters/">The Reporters
- 10 Nov 06, 04:26 PM
Top liberal blogger the Daily Kos dissects the tensions within the Democratic camp over campaign strategy, but says anyone who does not think there is plenty of credit to go around is an idiot. %3Ca%20href="https://www.dailykos.com/">Link
But the conservative MacsMind denies there was a Democratic wave on Tuesday, saying the party "perpetuated fraud" by running conservative Democrats in order to get "the uber left into power". %3Ca%20href="https://www.macsmind.com/wordpress/2006/11/10/democratic-wave-more-like-a-ripple/">Link
PolCenter cannot understand why President Bush waited until after the elections to get rid of Donald Rumsfeld. %3Ca%20href="https://polcentre.com/2006/11/10/gop-further-pisses-off-its-base/">Link
And The FiveForty says John Bolton is another casualty of election night, with an outgoing senator stabbing at him from hell's heart. %3Ca%20href="https://www.thefiveforty.com/john_bolton/from_hells_heart_lincoln_chafee_stabs_at_thee_bush.html">Link
%3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/katty_kay/2006/11/rummys_firing_squad.html">Rummy's firing squad
- %3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/katty_kay/">Katty Kay
- 9 Nov 06, 04:25 PM
If %3Ca%20href="https://www.defenselink.mil/bios/rumsfeld.html">Donald Rumsfeld had been "let go" a few months ago, would the Republicans be facing such a desolate political landscape today?
That's the question being asked by some bitter party stalwarts who appear to believe the Senate, at least, would still be theirs if Rummy had gone in time for the Republicans to make political capital from the move.
But others disagree (by the way, I think we're going to see a lot of this over the next two years: disagreement amongst Republicans, amongst Democrats, between the two parties and between Congress and the White House).
Look at the exit polls. Yes, Iraq was a big factor, but so was corruption.
Conservatives were so fed up with the ethics of the party leadership that even putting Mr Rumsfeld up against a firing squad might not have changed their actions.
These elections have revealed chasms in both parties - now the battle begins for who controls the centre ground. It's going to be a fascinating two years - not pretty, but fascinating.
Katty Kay is a presenter on %3Ca%20href="https://www.bbcworld.com">麻豆社 World
%3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/gavin_esler/2006/11/food_for_the_soul.html">Food for the soul
- %3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/gavin_esler/">Gavin Esler
- 9 Nov 06, 03:45 PM
My thanks to all those of you who tried to convert me to the American breakfast in your replies to my blogs (%3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/gavin_esler/2006/11/whos_not_bush.html">here and %3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/gavin_esler/2006/11/gridlock_and_paralysis.html">here).
I'm on my way back to the UK and just wanted to tell you of the two all-American breakfasts that I do love to eat: fresh OJ, bagels and lox - especially, of course, in New York City - and my truly guilty secret: I love %3Ca%20href="https://www.grits.com/discript.htm">grits.
I must be a Southern boy at heart.
Or maybe because it's close to the %3Ca%20href="https://www.rampantscotland.com/recipes/blrecipe_porridge.htm">porridge of my native Scotland.
For those of you around the world who don't know what I mean, grits are a kind of corn porridge, mostly eaten in the South.
Unfortunately I don't know of any source of supply of grits in England, but would be pleased to hear of one. Grits really are food for the soul.
Gavin Esler presents 麻豆社 TV's %3Ca%20href="/newsnight/">Newsnight programme
%3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/the_reporters/2006/11/midterms_blog_of_blogs_6.html">Mid-terms blog of blogs
- %3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/the_reporters/">The Reporters
- 9 Nov 06, 11:33 AM
%3Ca%20href="https://tks.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NjBiNGVjMmRiYjY4ODU5NTFlM2M5NTE1YjRmMDgzOTk=">Jim Geraghty, blogging at the National Review, puts a brave face on the Republicans' election defeat: "Sometimes you'll be convinced you have fantastic arguments, and the other guy doesn't know what he's talking about. And yet sometimes they choose the other guy. Sometimes you lose. It stinks, but it happens."
%3Ca%20href="https://www.wonkette.com/politics/">Wonkette greets the nomination of Bob Gates as Donald Rumsfeld's replacement at the Pentagon with some disbelief, recalling his days as CIA chief while new Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega headed the Sandinista rebels during the 1980s. "History doesn鈥檛 just repeat itself; it repeats itself with the same exact people."
%3Ca%20href="https://brianford.newsvine.com/_news/2006/11/08/432951-open-letter-the-house-that-george-built">Brian Ford welcomes the new-look Congress, calling the Democrats' win "a glimmer of light after being lost in the forest for two long years". But he is quick to assert that the vote was really an anti-Republican protest, not a pro-Democrat swing.
%3Ca%20href="https://www.floppingaces.net/2006/11/08/get-a-grip-2/">Flopping Aces, though, laments the Democratic rise, insisting that just because core Republican voters were upset with President Bush, there was no need to put "the worst of the worst" into leadership positions.
%3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/adam_brookes/2006/11/rumsfeld_open_case.html">Rumsfeld: Open case
- %3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/adam_brookes/">Adam Brookes
- 8 Nov 06, 10:52 PM
There's a term used often in the military - "%3Ca%20href="https://www.armystudyguide.com/content/powerpoint/EO_Presentations/establish-a-positive-comm-2.shtml">command climate".
It signifies the atmosphere that a senior leader generates through his language, his behaviour, his attitude. The command climate seeps down from the top and influences the way the entire chain of command makes its decisions.
The command climate that %3Ca%20href="https://www.defenselink.mil/bios/rumsfeld.html">Donald Rumsfeld generated in the Pentagon was unforgiving. He questioned everything and everybody.
His memos - known as "Rummy's snowflakes" because they came in blizzards - would have officers at their wits' end.
Major General John Batiste, after he retired, called him "arrogant" and "abusive".
Bob Woodward, in his book %3Ca%20href="https://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15103632/site/newsweek/">State of Denial, recounts seeing the then-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, %3Ca%20href="https://www.defenselink.mil/bios/myers_bio.html">General Richard Myers, with his head in his hands after another meeting with Sec Def.
An army major I once met said bluntly: "Rumsfeld hates us, he hates the army." I think that few in the uniformed military will be sad to see him gone.
But Rumsfeld saw himself as crusading against military inertia and conservatism. He loathed what he saw as the military's addiction to outmoded, expensive weapons platforms and its desire to fight only the wars it already knew how to fight.
In common with many of President Bush's advisers, he believed that America should not respond to the world, it should transform the world. For Rumsfeld that meant transforming the military, Afghanistan, Iraq, the very environment in which America's adversaries operate worldwide.
It will be a long time before history reaches a stable verdict on Donald Rumsfeld's second tenure as Secretary of Defense.
Many of his decisions will be condemned. His inability to ensure control Baghdad immediately after US troops stormed into the city will, I imagine, be reviled.
But his understanding of the threats that America faces today, and his instincts as to how America should answer them, will be the subject of long debate.
Adam Brookes is the 麻豆社's Pentagon correspondent.
%3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/matt_frei/2006/11/fathers_and_sons_1.html">Fathers and sons
- %3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/matt_frei/">Matt Frei
- 8 Nov 06, 08:36 PM
%3Ca%20href="https://www.tamu.edu/president/biography.html">Bob Gates, the new Secretary of Defence, is a friend of President Bush's father.
Coming on the heels of the appointment of %3Ca%20href="https://bakerinstitute.org/Persons/H-Chair.htm">James Baker to head the Iraq Study Group, think of it as the friends of Bush the father coming in to save the White House of the son.
A sort of Shakespearean family drama but with global repercussions.
Matt Frei is the 麻豆社's senior North America TV correspondent.
%3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/justin_webb/2006/11/bush_no_room_to_hide_1.html">Bush: No room to hide
- %3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/justin_webb/">Justin Webb
- 8 Nov 06, 07:18 PM
Only last week, Vice-President Dick Cheney said he and Mr Bush were not up for election - it would be full speed ahead in Iraq, irrespective of the result of the mid-term polls.
That full-speed-ahead policy has hit a wall.
President Bush, faced with the prospect of a bitter fight with the newly powerful Democrats - a fight he would probably lose - has opted for appeasement. He has thrown raw meat to the Democrats, in the shape of his defence secretary, %3Ca%20href="https://www.defenselink.mil/bios/rumsfeld.html">Donald Rumsfeld.
He was asked whether this amounted to a new direction. He couldn't quite bring himself to say yes, but he did say that the man he had asked to replace Mr Rumsfeld, former CIA director %3Ca%20href="https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6130302.stm">Robert Gates, would provide new leadership and a fresh perspective.
Mr Bush knows and has accepted that his Iraq policy has been repudiated. There is no room for pretence and no room to hide.
If the Democrats can come up with a better plan, he is ready - desperate even - to hear about it.
Justin Webb is the 麻豆社's chief North America radio correspondent.
%3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/jamie_coomarasamy/2006/11/a_gloomy_morning.html">A gloomy morning
- %3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/jamie_coomarasamy/">Jamie Coomarasamy
- 8 Nov 06, 02:13 PM
It's a pretty wet and gloomy morning here in northern Virginia - rainy, overcast, and pretty depressing for the folks here. And it's depressing because they voted in record numbers (for mid-term elections) here, but they still don't know who their senator will be.
When George Allen, the incumbent here, got up to speak last night, some expected him to concede - he's a few thousand down in the polls - but he vowed to fight on. So if there is less than one percent between Allen and the Democratic challenger Jim Webb when all the votes are counted, we could face recounts, litigation, and possibly a long, drawn-out contest.
George Allen - once considered a presidential hopeful for 2008 - could yet decide it's not worth the challenge, but the matter could drag on for several weeks yet.
Jamie Coomarasamy is a Washington correspondent for 麻豆社 News.
%3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/gavin_esler/2006/11/gridlock_and_paralysis.html">Gridlock and paralysis
- %3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/gavin_esler/">Gavin Esler
- 8 Nov 06, 02:11 PM
With the future of the government of the most powerful country on earth in the balance I'm delighted that %3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/gavin_esler/2006/11/whos_not_bush.html">my blog yesterday attracted an enormous response - from those who felt I had dissed American breakfasts.
Now I know that compared to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the so-called War on Terror and the record budget deficit plus wage stagnation and the US house price slump, what I think of American breakfasts may seem a little trivial. But not to some of the bloggers. %3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/gavin_esler/2006/11/whos_not_bush.html">One accused me of being anti-American for daring to suggest eggs benedict with fried potatoes and bacon is a "heart attack on a plate" when consumed at seven o'clock in the morning.
I'm not anti-American. But I am very strongly anti American bacon - the worst bacon in the world. Is the fat specially put into it in long strips and then the whole thing cremated in order to produce the highest number of potential carcinogens? And eggs benedict? Eggs with yellow slime on a soggy piece of cardboard? That's a breakfast?
Anyway, now to the slightly more important matter of the future of the world. One big loser last night - George Bush. Two big winners - the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton. The 2008 presidential election campaign is now underway. Senator John McCain - another likely runner - said in response to the dismal Republican results that his party had gone to change Washington but Washington had - unfortunately - changed his party.
What happens now? My guess is that we'll have a lot of the usual cliches - "we'll work together, bipartisanship, let's get together to make it work, blah blah blah." And then - as the political consultant Dick Morris put it - gridlock, paralysis and George W Bush spending the next two years dodging subpoenas, as Hillary and John McCain and the others place themselves for the 2008 race.
Gavin Esler presents 麻豆社 TV's %3Ca%20href="/newsnight/">Newsnight programme
%3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/james_westhead/2006/11/sound_bites.html">Political soundbites
- %3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/james_westhead/">James Westhead
- 8 Nov 06, 10:21 AM
Do Republicans have all the best soundbites?
It seemed that way as I hunted through tape after tape of final Democrat stump speeches and interviews looking for a good "clip" - the phrase we tend to use in the 麻豆社 rather than "soundbite". I had plenty to choose from in President Bush's final campaign speech in Texas - even though, as he himself admitted: "No one's ever accused me of being the best English speaker in America."
The point about a "clip" is that it has to express a single, simple idea in a clear concise way. You don't have to agree with it but you have to understand it and ideally it has to be short and delivered with passion. For some reason the Democrats' election supremo Chuck Schumer didn't deliver that as he peered over his glasses in press briefings. More surprisingly even, their chief cheerleader Bill Clinton - usually a good phrase-crafter - didn't hone one down for his last-minute stump speech.
There were lots of jokes, stories and unwieldy metaphors involving the founding fathers - but nothing that fitted into that all-important fifteen seconds. I know - how superficial of me. But it makes you wonder. Do the Democrats have any clear message? In the end I found a good clip from a very junior Democrat politician campaigning excitedly in Ohio, "Everywhere people stop me, saying they are going to vote Democrat." She added emphatically - "the reason? Because they are just completely fed up!"
The truth is that if the Democrats win - it will be largely because people voted against the Republicans, not for the Democrats. Maybe the Democrats don't need soundbites to win this election - but they will need to do some real work on their message before the next one.
James Westhead is a Washington correspondent for 麻豆社 News.
%3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/guto_harri/2006/11/dying_to_vote.html">Dying to vote?
- %3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/guto_harri/">Guto Harri
- 8 Nov 06, 09:51 AM
Polling stations are selected for their situation not for their suitability, so elections take some people into unfamiliar and possibly alien surroundings.
Schools, fire stations, church halls are the established favourites, and voting draws a different crowd into many of these establishments. The voting booths nearest my office were in the Metropolitan Community Church of New York. It prides itself on preaching an inclusive Gospel which is particularly attractive to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. Not everyone casting their ballot would have qualified on that count but everyone was welcome yesterday.
Signs and instructions were displayed in Spanish, Chinese and Korean as well as English. Yet Catherine Green, greeting everyone at the door, was disappointed at the turnout. "This was busier than usual", she told me towards the end, but, "it was not as busy as we'd like it to be". Having got up at 5am to help facilitate the voting process, she was angry: "One of the things I object to is the number of Americans that don't vote. In Iraq people are proud of voting. In Australia you're fined if you don't vote. And it's a right that people are dying for today. It's a responsibility that people are shirking."
Guto Harri is the 麻豆社's North America business correspondent.
%3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/the_reporters/2006/11/midterms_blog_of_blogs_5.html">Mid-terms blog of blogs
- %3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/the_reporters/">The Reporters
- 8 Nov 06, 09:10 AM
Daily Kos declares "Victory Open Thread!" and sums up its jubilant mood with a photo of a wave captioned "Ride it... you've earned it". (%3Ca%20href="https://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/8/31627/0491">link)
Blogs for Bush argues that a Democratic House will not be a major obstacle for the president but it predicts an endless stream of Congressional investigations and "the attempted criminalisation of being a conservative". (%3Ca%20href="https://www.blogsforbush.com/mt/archives/008206.html">link)
Andrew Sullivan says the election is a clear message for President Bush to sack his defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld: "Fire him; and reach out to the Democrats and moderate Republicans in order to form a strategy for victory or stability in Iraq." (%3Ca%20href="https://time.blogs.com/daily_dish/2006/11/fire_rumsfeld_n_1.html">link)
%3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/andy_gallacher/2006/11/scandal_hits_home.html">Scandal hits home
- %3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/andy_gallacher/">Andy Gallacher
- 8 Nov 06, 08:36 AM
The shadow of the %3Ca%20href="https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5400536.stm">Mark Foley affair may have been what threw the mid-terms to the Democrats here in Florida's 16th district but it was a close race none the less. The Republicans had only five weeks to prep their replacement %3Ca%20href="%3Ca%20href="https://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/details.aspx?MemberId=4212">Joe Negron and he fought a fierce battle.
His name wasn't even on the ballot papers; Mark Foley's name remained in place because of election rules, and there were fears that that could confuse voters.
But in the end Democrat Tim Mahoney took a seat that had been a safe Republican bet for years. Former Congressman Foley resigned at the end of September over inappropriate e-mails he sent to Congressional pages and the Democratic party saw this as a real opportunity. Campaigning on the war in Iraq and the Foley scandal they turned voters minds to national issues and while many of the people I talked to voted on local issues, the war and Mark Foley were very much in their minds.
Andy Gallacher is the 麻豆社's Miami correspondent.
%3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/justin_webb/2006/11/a_platform_for_the_democrats.html">Platform for Democrats
- %3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/justin_webb/">Justin Webb
- 8 Nov 06, 07:40 AM
The bleak fact for the White House is that the Democrats' taking control of the %3Ca%20href="https://www.house.gov/">House of Representatives gives them the chairmanship of every committee - the power to hold hearings, the power to instigate legislation - a platform in Washington.
What will they do with that platform - will they try, for instance, to impeach the president? Or will they stick to %3Ca%20href="https://www.house.gov/pelosi/biography/bio.html">Nancy Pelosi's stated goal of leadership? Probably the latter.
Many of the new intake are moderate Democrats, conservatives even, who are not looking for an ideological fight.
For fuller analysis from Justin, check back later.
Justin Webb is the 麻豆社's chief North America radio correspondent.
%3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/justin_webb/2006/11/to_be_continued.html">To be continued...
- %3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/justin_webb/">Justin Webb
- 8 Nov 06, 06:19 AM
The voters of South Dakota appear to have rejected a %3Ca%20href="https://www.vote-smart.org/election_ballot_measures_detail.php?ballot_id=M000001483">state law banning almost all abortions, even in case of rape or incest.
I wonder whether this might turn out to be a big blow to abortion-rights campaigners. My logic is this: If the South Dakota law had passed, it would have set up an uncomfortable situation for the president, who had quietly but firmly opposed the ban.
Had it passed, he would have been put in a position of opposing a law he regarded as too draconian, though it is quite obviously morally coherent - after all it is not the fault of the foetus if it was conceived through rape or incest.
In other words it would have put most of the nation - including most conservatives and their president - in the same camp, against the South Dakota law.
As it is, the old battles can continue.
Justin Webb is the 麻豆社's chief North America radio correspondent.
%3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/the_reporters/2006/11/more_liveblogging_1.html">More live-blogging
- %3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/the_reporters/">The Reporters
- 8 Nov 06, 06:07 AM
Our colleagues over at 麻豆社 Radio Five Live have been %3Ca%20href="https://blogs.bbc.co.uk/podsandblogs">live-blogging the election with David Adesnik (%3Ca%20href="https://oxblog.blogspot.com/">Oxblog) and Amanda Terkel (%3Ca%20href="https://thinkprogress.org/">Thinkprogress), including an exclusive take on the election by Mr Burns (no, not Montana Senator Conrad Burns - the one from %3Ca%20href="https://www.thesimpsons.com/index.html">The Simpsons).
%3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/jonathan_beale/2006/11/joy_in_pennsylvania_1.html">Joy in Pennsylvania
- %3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/jonathan_beale/">Jonathan Beale
- 8 Nov 06, 03:17 AM
Lot of excitement at the campaign party for %3Ca%20href="https://www.rendellforgovernor.com/">Ed Rendell, the Democratic governor of Pennsylvania, who has apparently won re-election.
Predictions that the ultra-conservative senator %3Ca%20href="https://www.ricksantorum.com/uvc/">Rick Santorum would pull out a come-back victory have come to naught as his Democratic challenger, %3Ca%20href="https://www.bobcasey.com/splash/">Bob Casey, seems to have ridden his party's wave.
Democratic supporters here are effusive and optimistic, even though at this hour most of the returns for elections results are still coming in.
But they believe Bob Casey won because his relatively moderate stance on issues which mattered most to them - in contrast to Mr Santorum, whom they perceived as being too far to the right and too close to George W Bush.
Jonathan Beale is the 麻豆社's State Department correspondent.
%3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/katty_kay/2006/11/premature_celebration.html">Premature celebration?
- %3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/katty_kay/">Katty Kay
- 8 Nov 06, 01:37 AM
This is starting to feel eerily familiar. I remember standing on a roof overlooking the White House on election night in 2004. My phone kept ringing from giddy Democrats: "We're ahead, even in Virginia, it's ours."
A few moments ago, I bumped into one of them in the reception of our Washington bureau. He flashed out his BlackBerry: "Look at this, we're ahead, even in Virginia, it's ours."
We should have all realised there was something odd about those polls in 2004 when the Democrats believed conservative Virginia had voted for John Kerry.
Should we be as sceptical tonight? It's been six dismal years for the Democrats. They are desperate to get back into power. Are they so desperate they'll break their own resolution and start celebrating prematurely?
Katty Kay is a presenter on %3Ca%20href="https://www.bbcworld.com">麻豆社 World
%3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/matt_frei/2006/11/organisation_v_revenge.html">Organisation v revenge
- %3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/matt_frei/">Matt Frei
- 8 Nov 06, 12:19 AM
I went to Pennsylvania's 8th congressional district, near Philadelphia, where %3Ca%20href="https://www.murphy06.net/index.php">Pat Murphy - the 33-year-old former West Point professor and Iraq veteran - has been running a confident campaign against the Republican incumbent %3Ca%20href="https://www.fitzpatrickforcongress.com/">Mike Fitzpatrick.
"Murph", as his supporters call him, seems to be prevailing over "Fitz", as his supporters call him, in the passion stakes - but once again it looked to me as if the Democrats might founder on the rock of insufficient organisation.
At the Everett primary school in Bristol, Pennsylvania, there were two Republican vote-trackers with bar codes for each voter in hand, keeping an eye on who had actually turned up at the polls.
Those who decided to stay at home had their bar codes processed by a computer for a robo-call to get them off the couch or a knock on the door from a friendly volunteer.
The Democrats had no such trackers and relied, it seemed, mainly on the newfound enthusiasm of their voters. The ground war on Election Day is a battle between organisation and revenge. We will find out in the next few hours which comes out on top.
Matt Frei is the 麻豆社's senior North America TV correspondent.
%3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/gavin_esler/2006/11/whos_not_bush.html">Who's not Bush?
- %3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/gavin_esler/">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?" %3Ca%20href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/06/AR2006110601120.html">asks columnist Eugene Robinson, clearly not expecting an answer. So I switched to the New York Times. Columnist Barry Schwartz %3Ca%20href="https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/07/opinion/07schwartz.html?_r=1&oref=slogin">called these elections "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 %3Ca%20href="https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/18/newsid_2540000/2540209.stm">a bizarre cult involved in a mass suicide many years ago.
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 麻豆社 TV's %3Ca%20href="/newsnight/">Newsnight programme
%3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/claire_bolderson/2006/11/campaigning_to_the_last.html">Campaigning to the last
- %3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/claire_bolderson/">Claire Bolderson
- 7 Nov 06, 03:16 PM
I just got the latest press release from %3Ca%20href="https://www.house.gov/pryce/">Congresswoman Deborah Pryce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 麻豆社 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 麻豆社 radio's %3Ca%20href="/radio4/news/worldtonight/">World Tonight and %3Ca%20href="/worldservice/programmes/newshour/">Newshour
%3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/the_reporters/2006/11/midterms_blog_of_blogs_2.html">Mid-terms blog of blogs
- %3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/the_reporters/">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". (%3Ca%20href="https://www.wonkette.com/politics/election-day/dirty-tricks-watch-babiesforvotes-scandal-rocks-new-mexico-212938.php">link)
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. (%3Ca%20href="https://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/008457.php">link)
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." (%3Ca%20href="https://www.washingtonmonthly.com/showdown06/archives/individual/2006_11/010047.php">link)
%3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/nick_miles/2006/11/early_voters.html">Early voters
- %3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/nick_miles/">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 麻豆社 News.
%3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/the_reporters/2006/11/covering_the_election.html">Covering the election
- %3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/the_reporters/">The Reporters
- 7 Nov 06, 12:01 PM
Over on the 麻豆社'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 麻豆社 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."
%3Ca%20href="/blogs/theeditors/2006/11/election_time.html">Click here to read Jon's entry in full.
%3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/adam_brookes/2006/11/foreignaffairs_fiasco.html">Foreign-affairs crisis
- %3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/adam_brookes/">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 麻豆社's Pentagon correspondent.
%3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/guto_harri/2006/11/play_nutville_for_me.html">Play Nutville for me
- %3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/guto_harri/">Guto Harri
- 6 Nov 06, 08:28 PM
"People come out to Jazz clubs ... to forget about political struggles." So said the thoughtful Latin trombonist %3Ca%20href="https://chriswashburne.com/">Chris Washburne a few years ago.
Music, said the man, "should be there for entertainment and for art's sake and to instruct, but politics should be kept separate from that act".
But that's not what he thinks these days. Last night at the cosy upper West side venue %3Ca%20href="https://www.smokejazz.com/">Smoke, Washburne dedicated a song to Nutville, making it clear he was referring to Washington, DC.
He urged everyone present in the packed room to vote on Tuesday, and though he did not name a party or candidate, he gave a clue by suggesting the process could be a "cleansing" experience. He dropped another clue between energetic bursts of song by backing the "peacemakers".
He tells me that 9/11 changed his view on the relationship between performance art and the so-called "art of the possible".
"As time has progressed and our political climate has changed, I couldn't remain silent anymore. I was compelled to say something, and the outlet that I have as a musician is a jazz club on stage or in a dance club on stage, so I take those few moments to state my perspective and move on."
I'll go back to Smoke to hear him and his SYOTOS band again - and if I'm not tired of the electoral post-mortem by then, I might even head back next Sunday to find out what he thinks of the results.
Guto Harri is the 麻豆社's North America business correspondent.
%3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/gavin_esler/2006/11/saddam_hitler_and_george_w_bus.html">Saddam, Hitler and Bush
- %3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/gavin_esler/">Gavin Esler
- 6 Nov 06, 05:25 PM
Two facts, two figures, and one big question stick in my mind this US election.
Fact One: the United States has now been at war in Iraq longer than it was at war against Hitler during %3Ca%20href="https://www.bbc.net.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/">World War II.
Fact Two: Saddam Hussein has been an American enemy for more than 16 years, far longer than Hitler.
Now the two figures: 15 and 6. It will take a switch of 15 House seats for the Democrats to take control of the %3Ca%20href="https://www.house.gov/">House of Representatives in Tuesday鈥檚 mid-term election vote, and a switch of six seats for the %3Ca%20href="https://www.senate.gov/">Senate to change hands.
And now the Big Question: What does the Iraq war have to do with the precise number of seats which will be won and lost on Tuesday?
Many American commentators say this election is a referendum on the Bush presidency and on the conduct of the Iraq war - which is true, up to a point.
One of the best attack weapons for Democrats has been to say that the Republican candidate 鈥渧otes with George Bush 97% of the time鈥.
Some Republican candidates are running away from George Bush like scalded dogs.
But Mr Bush has been campaigning as though his own political future depends on Tuesday鈥檚 result - which it does, up to a point.
And two days before the vote - no doubt entirely coincidentally - we learn Saddam Hussein is to be executed. The verdict may well help Mr Bush.
Almost all the pundits and pollsters agree that the Democrats will gain control of the House of Representatives for the first time since 1994. The Senate is thought more likely to stay with the Republicans.
And so those of us trying to predict what might happen are left speculating how far the Democrats will feel empowered - if they win the House of Representatives - to launch a series of inquiries into the conduct of the Iraq war.
Presidents at the end of their second term - Reagan with the %3Ca%20href="https://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/">Iran-contra affair, Clinton with %3Ca%20href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/players/lewinsky.htm">Monica Lewinsky - often find they are bedevilled by hostile Congressional investigations.
But my gut instinct is that instead of being hobbled by all this, Mr Bush may well be liberated.
A Democratic House of Representatives would give Mr Bush the kind of opposition he has so sorely lacked for the past six years. Mr Bush would be forced to seek bipartisan consensus - no bad thing during wartime.
And of course after Tuesday Mr Bush never needs to worry about leading the Republican Party in any election ever again. The end of the Bush presidency may begin on Tuesday, but my guess is - to quote Ronald Reagan - you ain鈥檛 seen nothin鈥 yet.
Gavin Esler presents 麻豆社 TV's %3Ca%20href="/newsnight/">Newsnight programme
%3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/the_reporters/2006/11/midterms_blog_of_blogs_4.html">Mid-terms blog of blogs
- %3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/the_reporters/">The Reporters
- 6 Nov 06, 03:51 PM
The Carpetbagger Report is furious about automated nuisance calls allegedly coming from the Republican Party but pretending to be from Democratic candidates. %3Ca%20href="https://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/8968.html">Link
Macsmind responds to a New York Times article about automated calls with an acerbic comment about dead people appearing on voter rolls: At least Republicans call live people. %3Ca%20href="https://www.macsmind.com/wordpress/2006/11/06/at-least-republicans-call-live-people/">Link
Hoffman's Hearsay has a joke about a barber giving free haircuts - and how it shows not to vote for Democrats. %3Ca%20href="https://politics.blognewschannel.com/index.php/archives/2006/11/06/the-haircut/">Link
%3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/lourdes_heredia/2006/11/parties_parties_1.html">Parties' parties
- %3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/lourdes_heredia/">Lourdes Heredia
- 6 Nov 06, 01:30 AM
D-Day is getting close and I can feel the ghosts of 2004 swirling around me.
On the night of those elections - 2 November 2004 - I was at %3Ca%20href="https://www.gop.com/contribute/join.aspx?key=L1M7U8Y0F0">Republican Party headquarters. Some of my friends asked me how I decided which party's party to go to.
I told them it was a gut feeling, but I was lying. (Sorry!) After two years I can admit that I made the decision after attending the parties' conventions.
The electoral machinery of the Republicans impressed me. I conducted 60 hours of interviews at their convention, and when I reviewed my tape, I heard the same message from every interviewee.
It did not matter what position they held, nor did my questions matter. Like a tape recorder, they gave me the same answer over and over again.
The %3Ca%20href="https://www.democrats.org/">Democrats, on the other hand, were more willing to debate. Each one had their point of view and they were much more open to the press.
A silly example, but one which shows the difference: I was invited to go to any party at the Democratic convention, but with the Republicans I had problems getting access even to the 鈥淗ispanic party鈥 - the Republicans were apparently much more concerned about what might be said in unguarded conversations.
Comparing the way the two parties went about dealing with the press - getting out their message - I sensed Republican headquarters was going to be the place to be on election night.
(I am not trying to say what is good or what is bad, I am just pointing out a difference of tactics.)
That night (it was actually early morning) I ended up walking around the White House. I knew I was going to go back to London and was thinking of the new life ahead of me.
The police kept a very close eye on me, so I ended up sitting in %3Ca%20href="https://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/wash/dc30.htm">Lafayette Park, just in front of the White House. Some guy came and sat next to me. After a while he said: 鈥淒on鈥檛 worry, not much will change鈥.
With this Election Day so close that鈥檚 exactly how I feel. Will there be a really big change if the Democrats win control of Congress?
This time I find myself wondering: 鈥淲hat's next?鈥 And I feel lucky that I don鈥檛 have to choose a 鈥減arty鈥 to go to.
Lourdes Heredia is Washington correspondent for the 麻豆社's Latin American service.
%3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/richard_greene/2006/11/sex_drugs_and_ted_haggard.html">Sex, drugs and Ted Haggard
- %3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/richard_greene/">Richard Greene
- 3 Nov 06, 10:18 PM
You probably hadn't heard of Ted Haggard - "Pastor Ted" - 48 hours ago.
He's the head of the %3Ca%20href="https://www.nae.net/">National Association of Evangelicals - or he was, 48 hours ago.
Leading the NAE didn't make him a household name in America, but since about one in 10 Americans belongs to a church associated with his umbrella movement, his name was very well known in the country's most famous evangelical household: the White House.
And the White House will be high on the list of those wondering what it means that Ted Haggard's career is now in tatters over gay-sex-and-drugs allegations.
Most immediately, it bodes ill for his shopping-mall-sized, 14,000-member %3Ca%20href="https://www.newlifechurch.org/">New Life Church in Colorado Springs, says James White, a retired - and much more liberal - pastor in the same town.
"When the shepherd is struck, the sheep scatter," Pastor White says in his Biblical baritone.
It is hard to gauge the broader effect on the elections on Tuesday, says John C Green, an expert on religion and politics at the %3Ca%20href="https://pewforum.org/">Pew Forum in Washington.
It may doom a ban on gay marriage for which Mr Haggard had been campaigning in Colorado. Mr Haggard's accuser, Mike Jones, says he hopes so - and supporters of gay marriage will certainly be cackling loudly over the scandal.
But nationwide the impact may be smaller. Some evangelicals will be left wondering who they can trust, and stay home in despair. Others will be furious at the attack on their leader and be even more motivated to vote, Mr Green says.
Incidentally, it is not only evangelicals who should be disheartened by the fall of "Pastor Ted".
Within the evangelical movement, he has been a leading voice for broadening the Christian agenda to include subjects like the environment and Darfur - positions many liberals would embrace. With his fall, Mr Green says, "one of the major moderate leaders will be removed".
Richard Greene is the 麻豆社 News website's Washington reporter
%3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/jamie_coomarasamy/2006/11/abortion_battle_1.html">Abortion battle
- %3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/jamie_coomarasamy/">Jamie Coomarasamy
- 3 Nov 06, 06:50 PM
While the focus on Iraq suggests that national issues will have more of an impact than usual on what are essentially local elections, in South Dakota, a vote on a local law could have a nationwide impact.
Among a rather daunting list of 11 ballot initiatives being put to voters there is a %3Ca%20href="https://www.vote-smart.org/election_ballot_measures_detail.php?ballot_id=M000001483">challenge to the state's tough new abortion law. The law, which permits abortions only if the mother's life is in danger, makes even quite a few opponents of abortion feel uncomfortable, but it has become the focus of a lot of pre-election discussion on Christian radio stations.
As you cross the state's rolling plains, it is hard to miss the light blue signs in support of the legislation - part of a very energised and well-funded %3Ca%20href="https://www.abstinence.net/about/history.php">campaign that's being run from a huge warehouse near Sioux Falls airport.
The building is piled high with literature, DVDs and other family-friendly paraphernalia - from baby milk bottles to dolls - bearing the "vote yes" slogan.
Rushing from interview to interview (we were allocated eight minutes) is the head of the campaign, Leslee Unruh. She had an abortion herself 29 years ago - and has regretted it ever since, she says.
She couches her fight in the language of feminism and deliberately steers clear of the shocking pictures of aborted foetuses traditionally used by pro-life groups. South Dakota's law may be more extreme than most, but the aim of the campaign is to appeal to moderates.
Will it work? Well, the %3Ca%20href="https://www.sdhealthyfamilies.org/">campaign to overturn the abortion ban has an advantage in the opinion polls, but it has rather more modest headquarters and rather more modestly-sized yard signs.
Still, as Election Day approaches, the "vote no" volunteers are bashing the phones with plenty of enthusiasm and everyone agrees that there's a lot at stake.
If the law is approved, several other states are likely to follow South Dakota's lead and challenge the Roe v Wade ruling which forms the federal basis for US abortion rights.
Jamie Coomarasamy is a Washington correspondent for 麻豆社 News.
%3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/the_reporters/2006/11/midterms_blog_of_blogs_3.html">Mid-terms blog of blogs
- %3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/the_reporters/">The Reporters
- 3 Nov 06, 06:15 PM
California Conservative says that the Democrats' pouring resources into races they were once considered unlikely to win is not a sign the tide is shifting in their favour - it is an indication "they wouldn't know a safe seat from a vulnerable one if their life depended on it". %3Ca%20href="https://www.californiaconservative.org/elections/dems-overly-optimistic-about-congressional-races/">Link
But Five Before Chaos is so delighted at the scandals wracking the Republican party, he wants to postpone the election for a week "so we can have a few more gifts - pleeeeze". %3Ca%20href="https://fivebeforechaos.blogspot.com/2006/11/can-we-have-another-week-pleeeeze.html">Link
Finally, Blacknell laments that the entire US political system is broken: "Maybe it's just because we, as a society, don't give a damn about democracy anymore." %3Ca%20href="https://blacknell.net/dynamic/2006/11/03/a-broken-system/">Link
%3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/andy_gallacher/2006/11/recount_unlikely_1.html">Recount unlikely
- %3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/andy_gallacher/">Andy Gallacher
- 3 Nov 06, 01:06 AM
%3Ca%20href="https://www.electharris.org/">Katherine Harris has battled on here in Florida despite her staffing problems and a considerable gap in the polls.
The woman best remembered for backing George Bush in the %3Ca%20href="https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1190222.stm">2000 Florida recount imbroglio has lost campaign staff in droves and initially didn't have the backing from state Republican leaders.
But the 49-year-old is hoping that her final debate with Democratic incumbent %3Ca%20href="https://www.nelsonforsenate.com/">Bill Nelson may have closed that chasm.
"I just hope that I reached out to the hearts and minds of people," she said after a debate that was dominated by Iraq.
It was a heated exchange, with both Ms Harris and Mr Nelson repeatedly interrupting each other. At times Mr Nelson wagged his finger at Ms Harris, shaking his head in frustration.
Katherine Harris wouldn't say whether she would have voted for the war in Iraq if she'd known there were no weapons of mass destruction, while Bill Nelson told the audience he would have voted against the war.
Ms Harris did call for a "new strategy" in Iraq, suggesting that the country be divided up into three regions for the Sunnis, Shias and Kurds. She also told voters that Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Vice-President Dick Cheney had performed "adequately" in their jobs.
According to the %3Ca%20href="https://electoral-vote.com/evp2006/Sen_graphs/florida.html">latest polls, Katherine Harris trails her opponent by more than 12 points. She may once have been the darling of the Republican Party for her role in the 2000 recount - but during this campaign she's been dogged by problems and abandoned by her own party.
Andy Gallacher is the 麻豆社's Miami correspondent.
%3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/claire_bolderson/2006/11/bad_ads_whats_the_point.html">Bad ads: What's the point?
- %3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/claire_bolderson/">Claire Bolderson
- 2 Nov 06, 06:53 PM
OK, so I鈥檓 Brit - we don鈥檛 have election advertising the way you do here. But can anyone tell me the point of all those endless 30- and 60-second commercials on television?
There seem to be more than ever this year.
I ask only because I鈥檝e yet to meet anyone who has actually been well informed by what they have seen flash up on the screen.
If it鈥檚 a negative message - as the vast majority look like - it鈥檚 usually delivered in deep, serious and hurried tones suggesting impending doom if you don鈥檛 vote the right way.
The rare positive ones are bathed in a warm glow, usually include several shots of the candidate's family and have a syrupy voice-over designed I expect to make us all feel good about ourselves - and about them.
And for what purpose? I met a woman the other day who parroted back at me some of the outrageous allegations she had picked up from one particularly insulting TV ad - except she applied it all to the wrong candidate. She was so sure of her facts yet utterly confused.
Ask most people what they are thinking about the election and almost immediately they鈥檒l start talking about the negative ads and %3Ca%20href="https://nationaljournal.com/members/polltrack/2006/todays/10/1030newsweek.htm">how much they hate them.
鈥淚f you watched all the ads, you wouldn鈥檛 vote for any of them,鈥 was the verdict of a waiter I met in %3Ca%20href="https://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=CINCI">Cincinnati the other day.
So here鈥檚 my question for any of you wavering voters out there. Have you ever seen an election TV spot that (a) you felt was really informative and (b) changed your mind about your vote?
Claire Bolderson presents 麻豆社 radio's %3Ca%20href="/radio4/news/worldtonight/">World Tonight and %3Ca%20href="/worldservice/programmes/newshour/">Newshour
%3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/the_reporters/2006/11/midterms_blog_of_blogs_1.html">Mid-terms blog of blogs
- %3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/the_reporters/">The Reporters
- 2 Nov 06, 03:19 PM
Firedoglake uses a video of a John F Kennedy speech to argue Americans can demand better from their government by voting for Democrats. %3Ca%20href="https://www.firedoglake.com/2006/11/02/in-your-hands-there-is-hope/">Link
But Lake Minnetonka Liberty says John Kerry's comment on education and the war in Iraq is "pretty much what all Democrats believe" - calling them the "party of hate". %3Ca%20href="https://lakeminnetonkaliberty.blogspot.com/2006/11/democrats-theyre-all-same.html">Link
And Martin Manley at Jam Side Down looks ahead to 2008, where he sees only four serious contenders for the presidency - all of whom he likes more than "the guy we've got now". %3Ca%20href="https://www.martinmanley.com/2006/11/andthen_there_were_four.html">Link
%3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/guto_harri/2006/11/strange_space.html">Strange space
- %3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/guto_harri/">Guto Harri
- 2 Nov 06, 09:49 AM
I imagine that few of the candidates in this election have either the time or inclination to hang out in cyberspace, but half an hour on the vast social network %3Ca%20href="https://www.myspace.com/">MySpace offers an intriguing insight into the contest. "Bush is Bad" is the most popular political grouping here, with 166,969 members.
MySpace Democrats have more members than MySpace Republicans and %3Ca%20href="https://groups.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=groups.groupProfile&groupID=103578323&Mytoken=313201BA-760A-42AA-9DBDFC49CC34E0BD35866945">Wesley Clark has drawn more support than any other public figure in this category. An unavoidable one-upmanship affects everyone on MySpace because the website keeps a strict count of your "friends".
Politicians at a time like this could be forgiven for being paranoid about the numbers. But some will find comfort clicking on. %3Ca%20href="https://www.myspace.com/barackobama">Barack Obama has a cool-looking profile, 17,512 friends and a long list of people who've wished him "happy Halloween" as well as begging him to run for president.
%3Ca%20href="https://blog.myspace.com/hillaryclinton2008">Hillary Clinton has some similar pleas, one suggesting she should secure Obama has her running mate. A woman introducing herself as "carrot top" tells the New York senator she's "excited you're coming to my home town this weekend". Another simply wishes the former First Lady "good morning".
The most bizarre comment is directed at Republican hopeful %3Ca%20href="https://mccain.senate.gov/">John McCain. "Black Mary the Turquoise Desert" tells him she's "descending from above to give... a kiss of divine black female love". Asche Krieger assures the senator that he'll vote for him in 2008 whether he's on the ballot or not.
What I can't establish is how many of these sites are genuine. There's another %3Ca%20href="https://www.myspace.com/spinoutmccain">Senator McCain on MySpace with 509 friends, who believes he's 31 years old. John McCain is 70. And the %3Ca%20href="https://www.myspace.com/gorein08">Al Gore profile I found, curiously has only 189 "friends", including "planet" and "spider".
Perhaps the politicians are better off staying clear of this virtual world after all.
Guto Harri is the 麻豆社's North America business correspondent.
%3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/katty_kay/2006/11/getting_the_megaphone_back.html">Getting the megaphone back
- %3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/katty_kay/">Katty Kay
- 1 Nov 06, 05:34 PM
Republicans are already giving their verdict: the %3Ca%20href="https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6105004.stm">Kerry snafu is helping to turn the tide.
"On Halloween, John Kerry reappears like a Democratic bogeyman, and potentially scares swing and GOP non-voters into showing up at the polls on Tuesday" - that was the message in my inbox this morning from one Republican pollster.
Republicans recognise that the Democrats "won" October, as they put it.
The %3Ca%20href="https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6068032.stm">Mark Foley scandal did have a serious impact - not because it depressed enthusiasm among conservatives (there is little polling evidence to show that party stalwarts decided to stay home as a direct consequence of Mr Foley's sexual proclivities) but rather because it deprived the Republicans of what political operatives call the megaphone.
Well, in the last 48 hours the Republicans feel they have got the megaphone back.
Going on the offensive on Iraq was a risky strategy given the unpopularity of the war, but it's getting the party the lead on the front pages. It was the first time in a month that the GOP message was starting to break through.
Mr Bush may be unpopular but his stump speeches still get airtime.
Then along comes Mr Kerry with his botched joke (You can hear it here) and Mr Bush is relishing the chance to relive his 2004 victory.
Republicans are hoping that if nothing else Mr Kerry's remarks will remind those who voted for Mr Bush in 2004 why they didn't support the Democrats, while also raising questions about whether a Democrat can be trusted to support the troops at war.
Mr Kerry made a mistake (not the first of his political career) and all the Democrats want to do now is push him off a cliff, or, far more importantly, out of the headlines. Iraq is their big trump card.
The feeling is that if the senator had made a joke about anything but Iraq it wouldn't be so bad.
This is unlikely to change the minds of any Democrats, or even those independents for whom hatred of Bush is the prime motivator, but at the very least it knocks the Dems off message for a day or two.
And with only six precious days to go, that's long enough.
Katty Kay is a presenter on %3Ca%20href="https://www.bbcworld.com">麻豆社 World
%3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/the_reporters/2006/11/blog_of_blogs_1.html">Mid-terms blog of blogs
- %3Ca%20href="/blogs/thereporters/the_reporters/">The Reporters
- 1 Nov 06, 04:45 PM
Nuke Gingrich weighs in on the debate over John Kerry's comment about education and the war in Iraq, saying his explanations fail the smell test: "There is no indication, at all, that this was a joke." %3Ca%20href="https://nukegingrich.wordpress.com/2006/11/01/kerry-remarks-fail-global-smell-test/">Link
Media Girl takes John Kerry's side in the feud over who should apologise to the troops, saying she wants an apology from those who won the 2000 and 2004 elections "for lying about pretty much everything". %3Ca%20href="https://mediagirl.org/node/1395">Link
Cine Classics uses the impending election to reflect on two films that have influenced American politics, Fail Safe and Dr Strangelove. %3Ca%20href="https://classicmovieguide.blogspot.com/2006/11/politics-and-hollywood-fail-safe.html">Link
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