On Tuesday, Americans will vote in what we call the "midterm elections." This is halfway between a Presidential term, when all 435 seats in the House of Representatives and one third of the 100 Senate seats, are up for grabs. The Republicans have controlled the Congress since 1994 and while there is an incumbency retention rate of something like 90% (meaning that the guy who is already in Congress only loses an election for that seat about 10% of the time, very rare) this year's race is wide open. I am very frustrated by the Bush presidency and the 109th Congress, which did much more rubber stamping than providing "checks and balances." It will be really healthy for the country to have a very different 110th Congress. Most predictions are that it will be close, but that the Democrats will gain a majority in the House and maybe even the Senate. You should check out the really cool election guide on the NY Times website, which lets you profile races in any state. You can also make your own race by race predictions and it will calculate the implications for you. When I made my very conservative predictions, the Democrats won the House by about 5 seats, and the Republican majority in the Senate was narrowed to 2. I've already sent in my absentee ballot, and therefore have already voted. I voted for Elliot Spitzer (Dem) as NY State's Governor, Callaghan (Republican) as Comptroller, Hillary Clinton as US Senator, Charles Rangel as Representative, Eric Schwendiman as State Senator and Herman Ferrell as State Assemblyman. If the Dems win control of the House, then Rangel will probably become Chair of the very powerful Ways and Means Committee, which will be somewhat of a boost to my resume, since I interned with him this past summer. Do you have any predictions for Tuesday?
Saturday, November 04, 2006
Midterm Elections
On Tuesday, Americans will vote in what we call the "midterm elections." This is halfway between a Presidential term, when all 435 seats in the House of Representatives and one third of the 100 Senate seats, are up for grabs. The Republicans have controlled the Congress since 1994 and while there is an incumbency retention rate of something like 90% (meaning that the guy who is already in Congress only loses an election for that seat about 10% of the time, very rare) this year's race is wide open. I am very frustrated by the Bush presidency and the 109th Congress, which did much more rubber stamping than providing "checks and balances." It will be really healthy for the country to have a very different 110th Congress. Most predictions are that it will be close, but that the Democrats will gain a majority in the House and maybe even the Senate. You should check out the really cool election guide on the NY Times website, which lets you profile races in any state. You can also make your own race by race predictions and it will calculate the implications for you. When I made my very conservative predictions, the Democrats won the House by about 5 seats, and the Republican majority in the Senate was narrowed to 2. I've already sent in my absentee ballot, and therefore have already voted. I voted for Elliot Spitzer (Dem) as NY State's Governor, Callaghan (Republican) as Comptroller, Hillary Clinton as US Senator, Charles Rangel as Representative, Eric Schwendiman as State Senator and Herman Ferrell as State Assemblyman. If the Dems win control of the House, then Rangel will probably become Chair of the very powerful Ways and Means Committee, which will be somewhat of a boost to my resume, since I interned with him this past summer. Do you have any predictions for Tuesday?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment