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Is this the dirtiest election ever? Republicans fear landslide defeat

by UK Independent (reposted)
Republican candidates across the United States are taking the dubious art of negative advertising and character assassination to unprecedented levels of toxicity as polls indicate possible landslide gains for the Democrats on 7 November in crucial mid-term congressional elections.
A sense of near-desperation has overtaken the Republican camp just eight days away from polling day amid fears that the Democrats could seize control of the House of Representatives and possibly the Senate as well. Some analysts suggest the Republicans could suffer an even greater reversal than in 1974, when they lost 48 House seats in the wake of Richard Nixon's resignation.

"This is the most challenging environment for Republicans since the Watergate year," said Whit Ayres, a Republican consultant. But with both sides in high gear, he said the game may not be over. "It is not an absolute sure thing that the Democrats take either the House or the Senate."

President George Bush has now gone into full campaign mode, criss-crossing the land in an attempt to energise voters in districts where Republican candidates are at risk while reiterating his message that Democrats cannot be trusted to finish the war in Iraq and protect America from terrorism. "I want you to think about the Democrat plan for success. There isn't one," Mr Bush told Republicans at a rally in Indiana at the weekend. "They are in agreement on one thing; they will leave [Iraq] before the job is done, and we will not let them."

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http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article1940786.ece
by UK Independent (reposted)
On the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November of every even-numbered year, the United States goes through the ritual of its mid-term elections.

There is little of the razamataz of a presidential contest, but these elections are fiercely fought with tens of millions of dollars being spent by both parties on attack advertising in the closing days.

Next Tuesday's elections should have little to do with George Bush as voters elect all 435 members of Congress, 33 or 34 of the 100 members of the US Senate as well as members of state legislatures, and state governors. But in practice the mid-terms are all about George this time.

All major polls conducted since 12 October show President Bush's job approval below 40 per cent, worse than President Bill Clinton's prior to the 1994 elections. And an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll taken between 13 and 16 October produced a shocking approval rating of just 16 percent for the Republican Congress.

US presidential elections occur only every four years and those elections for Congress that do not coincide with presidential races are called mid-term elections - because they occur about midway through a presidential term. In addition 36 governors are elected during mid-term elections as are thousands of politicians running for state legislatures and county offices.

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http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article1940787.ece
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