warning Hi, we've moved to USCANNENBERGMEDIA.COM. Visit us there!

Neon Tommy - Annenberg digital news

Republicans Seize House, Aim To 'Change Course' As Democratic Majority Tumbles

Paresh Dave |
November 2, 2010 | 2:33 a.m. PDT

Executive Producer

John Boehner and Nancy Pelosi, respectively expected to be the incoming and outgoing Speakers of the House. (Creative Commons images)
John Boehner and Nancy Pelosi, respectively expected to be the incoming and outgoing Speakers of the House. (Creative Commons images)
Two years of unchecked power in national government will end for Democrats in 62 days on Jan. 3, 2011.

A sprint to the finish by President Barack Obama's administration and Congressional Democrats to stave off a Republican take-over of the House that that been building all year ended in defeat Tuesday night.

With experts and voters calling the results of the midterm elections a repudiation of Obama's failure to hold down the size and spending of government and to live up to promises he made during his campaign two years ago, the embattled president is left to pick up the pieces to foster cooperation from his “enemies,” as he described them.

Republicans are on pace to surpass the 218 seats needed to hold a majority in the house while Democrats will hold onto just enough seats to maintain control of the Senate.

"Americans have sent an unmistakeable message today: change course," said John Boehner, the Ohio Congressman who will undoubtedly become the new speaker of the House.

One of the biggest examples of the dissatisfaction came in Virginia, where Tom Perriello, who backed many of Obama's policies, failed to hold onto his seat. Elsewhere, Tea Party candidates such as Marco Rubio and Rand Paul went onto to victor in Senate races in Florida and Kentucky, respectively.

“American can rise up and surmount these problems if we just get the government out of our way,” Paul said in a victory speech.

Americans entered Election Day fearful of the nation's shaky economy, most disapproving of Obama's performance in attempting to fix the economy and jumping on the bandwagon of the small-government-favoring Tea Party. Exit polls conducted by various organizations on Tuesday showed voters had the economy on their mind more than anything. They felt the country was headed in the wrong direction.

"It’s not surprising that they’re saying, ‘I don’t like what’s going on,’” said Jason McDaniel, a political science professor at San Francisco State University. "What mainly is going on here is the economy, and the economy is growing. Voters are upset at the economy. Voters are upset at the state of the country."

But many also said, when considering whom to vote for, they were deciding between the lesser of two evils. Despite the less than thrilling candidates, turnout across the country was considerably high for a midterm election.

The House's new makeup reveals a shift for the majority of America for where to look for hope from Obama to Boehner (R-Ohio). Entering Tuesday, a majority of Americans said Tuesday's elections were tantamount to a referendum on Obama's agenda. Nearly as many blamed him as faulted former President George W. Bush for the nation's financial woes.

This year, exit polls said conservative voters made up 41 percent of this year's electorate—a nine-point jump from the 2006 midterm election that swept Democrats into control of Congress. Eighty percent of voters supported conservative candidates.

"If the economy turns around and now voters are expecting Republicans to be serious about governing," McDaniel said. "I think it’s possible to see a resurgence toward Obama.”

Besides Virginia, Democrats suffered significant losses key House races in Florida, Texas and Indiana.

But Democrats, despite a loss for Kendrick Meek in Florida and an expected loss for Russ Feingold in Wisconsin, will likely hold onto the Senate because of victories by John Manchin in Virginia and an expected victory by incumbent Barbara Boxer in California.

Spending of more than $450 million by outside organizations boosted the campaigns of conservative candidates nationwide, but by the time many of those ads aired, some 20 million voters had already turned in their ballots in what will likely become a record for a midterm election.

Congressional realignment is not foreign to either party, and the most recent upheaval for Democrats, amid Bill Clinton's presidency in 1994, did not choke a building leftward surge in the nation's political climate.

Democrats seized control of Congress during the midterm of President Bush's last four years. Voters were fed up with the war in Iraq and ushered in a new Congressional class. When Obama won in 2008, Democrats held control over legislative and executive policymaking.

With control of one chamber of Congress back, Republican legislators will be able to stifle efforts at bolstering environmental protections, responding to calls for greater rights for gays, affording more benefits to struggling Americans and counteracting skyrocketing college tuition.

Though Obama entered office promising to reach across party lines, he failed to give Republican ideas worthwhile credence. Commentators criticized the lofty seat Obama seemed to believe he held. Though he may have entered with a mandate to “move American forward,” he never fully took the reins of America, allowing Republicans to launch a massive castigation of “Obamacare.” The backlash presented itself in Tuesday's elections.

Obama will speak about the election results on Wednesday morning. Democratic National Committee chairman Tim Kaine spoke Tuesday night.

"We're likely to end up with a Democrat in White House, Republican governors, a Democratic Senate, and a Republican house," he said. "It's a tough night for us in the House. But the big picture nationally is you guys have to work together, we're seeing progress and I think we're gonna see an awful lot more."  

Fierce lobbying and a poor strategy split Obama's own party, continuing to disengage him from the bases that elected him in the first place. October's reddish hues sparked the president's athletic aggression—a fuel that sent him on a nationwide tour of rallies and fundraisers. He blasted Republicans for getting the country into a mess and offering that Democrats are the one's who can dig the nation out of its hole. Confident as ever, he attempted all the way through this past weekend to rekindle the hope of 2008.

Returning back to their grassroots foundations, Democratic incumbents and challengers alike relied on millions of volunteers in the final days before today's elections to call and walk up to the doors of several million voters.

Republican get-out-the-vote operations were doubly stronger than usual this year, partially because of funding from conservative groups such as Republican strategist Karl Rove's American Crossroads. All told, campaign expenditures across both parties should reach $4 billion. The two-to-one spending advantage for Republicans over Democrats in the final month must have enough to send them to victory.

But the battle has gone on for much longer. Since Scott Brown's election to the Senate in a January special election to take over the late Ted Kennedy's seat, Republicans realized they had a chance to highlight Obama's shortcomings. The Tea Party movement emerged, putting Sarah Palin front and center of a resurgence of America's deepest conservative roots. As of 6 p.m., two of the candidates she has backed had won and one had lost.

Haley Barbour, the head of the Republican Governors Association, predicted on Tuesday night that the Republican majority would sustain for several years.

"You're going to have a great number of years in the majority," he says. "I don’t know how many years. It'll be more than two, I know that." He also tells supporters, "Get ready for a big ride."

 

Reach executive producer Paresh Dave here. Follow him on Twitter: @peard33.



 

Buzz

Craig Gillespie directed this true story about "the most daring rescue mission in the history of the U.S. Coast Guard.”

Watch USC Annenberg Media's live State of the Union recap and analysis here.

 
ntrandomness