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HNN Hot Topics: Midterm Elections

• Election night cheat sheet: Key races to watch: Get your last bits of election speculation and guessing out now — because starting Tuesday night we will have actual facts. People will vote. Candidates will win. Careers will end. Power in Washington will shift. There are 435 elections in the House, 37 in the Senate, and 37 gubernatorial elections. To help you sift through the returns, here's a reader and viewer's guide to some key things to watch.
  The official unemployment rate is 9.6 percent, though the true picture may be closer to 17 percent. In states with key races, the unemployment rate is worse: In Nevada it's 14.4 percent; in Ohio it's 10 percent. President Obama's approval rating is about 45 percent. The generic ballot shows voters picking Republicans over Democrats by seven points. The congressional approval rating is below 20 percent.... - Yahoo News, 11-2-10
• Polls: Rubio holds wide lead in Senate race; governor race neck-and-neck: Two Florida polls have Marco Rubio well ahead of the pack in the U.S. Senate race. Quinnipiac University's final pre-election poll, which wrapped up Sunday night, shows Republican Marco Rubio with a 45-to-31 percent lead over indie Charlie Crist in the U.S. Senate race, with Democrat Kendrick Meek at 18 percent. Democratic firm Public Policy Polling, says Rubio is headed for"an easy victory" with 47 percent to 30 percent for Crist and 21 percent Meek.
  But both firms say the race for governor is too close to call. Quinnipiac gives Democrat Alex Sink a 44-to-33 percent lead over Republican Rick Scott; has Sink with a 48-to-47 percent lead. Both polls have a 3.5 percent margin of error.... - Palm Beach Post, 11-1-10
• Ohio governor's race a close call, final polls show: Nearly every poll that weeks ago predicted an easy win for Republican challenger John Kasich over Gov. Ted Strickland is now declaring the race a toss-up as voters cast their ballots today in the closely watched race. That's good news for Democrat Strickland, who, despite his low job approval ratings, has closed the gap on Kasich, who has watched his once double-digit lead wilt."Ted Strickland's chances of re-election are looking the best they have in months," said Dean Debnam, president of Public Policy Polling, which gives Kasich a one-point edge. In late August, the same poll had the Republican up by 10 points.
  But even if the race is too close to call, the polls still have Kasich ahead of the incumbent, which is a good position to be in, according to another pollster."John Kasich has the historical tendency of undecided voters to break against well-known incumbents at the very end of a campaign," Peter Brown of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute said on Monday. Brown agreed, however, that momentum is with Strickland. Quinnipiac on Monday had Kasich leading by one point with about six percent of voters undecided. The same poll had Kasich leading by 17 percentage points in September and by 10 points just two weeks ago.... - Cleveland.com, 11-1-10
• A Vote Against Dems, Not for the GOP: Voters don't want to be governed from the left, right or center. They want Washington to recognize that Americans want to govern themselves.
  In the first week of January 2010, Rasmussen Reports showed Republicans with a nine-point lead on the generic congressional ballot. Scott Brown delivered a stunning upset in the Massachusetts special U.S. Senate election a couple of weeks later. In the last week of October 2010, Rasmussen Reports again showed Republicans with a nine-point lead on the generic ballot. And tomorrow Republicans will send more Republicans to Congress than at any time in the past 80 years. This isn't a wave, it's a tidal shift—and we've seen it coming for a long time. Remarkably, there have been plenty of warning signs over the past two years, but Democratic leaders ignored them. At least the captain of the Titanic tried to miss the iceberg. Congressional Democrats aimed right for it.... - WSJ, 10-31-10
• Democrats, GOP close in Nevada early votes: Nevada Democrats and their union allies appear to have blunted a surge of Republican enthusiasm in early voting, confirming a close race between Republican tea party favorite Sharron Angle and Majority Leader Harry Reid, figures showed Saturday. Two weeks of early voting that ended Friday provide only a barometer of turnout - it's far from conclusive with Election Day to come. The early numbers confirm Republicans are fired up to deny Reid a fifth term, but Democrats are getting to the polls in significant numbers, too. Statewide, Democrats hold about a 60,000-vote registration edge over the GOP, and the decisive factor on Nov. 2 is likely to be the state's independent voters.... - AP, 10-30-10
• Early Voting Numbers in California: Close Races Ahead?: If early voting is an indication of how Tuesday's midterm elections will go--and it's debatable whether, and how, it can--early vote-by mail turnout in California predicts close races for Senate and governor. Here's a breakdown of who has voted already through the state's vote-by-mail program, provided to The Atlantic by a source close to the California Republican Party. By party registration, here's a who has mailed a ballot so far... - The Atlantic, 10-30-10

THE HEADLINES....MIDTERM ELECTIONS 2010

• Voters cast ballots; Control of Congress at stake: The fate of the Democratic Congress was put before voters Tuesday in midterm elections that drew Americans to balloting stations starting before dawn, some clamoring for change, others digging in their heels against resurgent Republicans. Expectations took hold in both camps that the political order was in for a makeover in these anxious times.... - AP, 11-2-10
• Republicans Poised to End Pelosi's Historic Reign: Two years after voters gave President Obama and Democrats a mandate to govern, angry voters appeared poised today to give Republicans control of the U.S. House of Representatives, leaving droves of incumbent Democrats without jobs. ABC News, 10-12-10
• The Presidential Planner: After a weekend of campaigning in four states President Obama will spend Election eve behind-closed-doors at the White House today. In the morning, the President will receive the Presidential Daily Briefing and meet with senior advisors in the Oval Office, his regular daily briefings. Mr. Obama will spend the rest of the day in private meetings at the White House.... - ABC News, 11-2-10
• Kentucky Race Tests Tea Party's Strength: Kentucky voters are casting their ballots in one of the nation's most closely watched Senate contests, which will determine the future of tea-party favorite Rand Paul. An election of Mr. Paul, a 47-year-old eye surgeon and Republican, would signal the movement's growing political influence, while a defeat to Democrat Jack Conway would mark a substantial setback for the conservative grass-roots effort."There is a tea-party tidal wave coming to Washington," he said to reporters after emerging from the polling station. He described the movement as"a bunch of people who are more concerned about the [national] debt than anything else."... - WSJ, 11-2-10
• Reid, Angle make late push in marquee race - WaPo, 11-2-10
• Bold Republicans bidding for control in Congress: Confident of major gains, Republicans challenged the Democrats' grip on power in Congress on Tuesday in midterm elections shadowed by recession and stirred by the rebellion of tea party conservatives. All 435 seats in the House were on the ballot, plus 37 in the Senate. An additional 37 governors' races gave Republicans ample opportunity for further gains halfway through President Barack Obama's term.
  "This is going to be a big day," House Republican leader John Boehner, in line to become speaker if the GOP wins the House, said after voting near his West Chester, Ohio, home. For those who think the government is spending too much and bailing out too many, he said,"This is their opportunity to be heard."
  The president gave a series of radio interviews pleading with Democratic supporters not to sit on the sidelines."I know things are still tough out there, but we finally have job growth again," he said in one."It is all at risk if people don't turn out and vote today."
  While the president's name was not on the ballot, his record and policies were. After nearly two years in power, he and congressional Democrats were saddled politically with ownership of an economy that was barely growing, 9.6 percent unemployment, a high rate of home foreclosures and personal bankruptcies, the residue of the worst recession since the 1930s....- AP,
• Obama's response: President plans post-election press conference: With a Capitol Hill power shift believed to be in the making, Obama is expected to outline possible mid-course changes in the direction of his presidency. With Republicans expected to win control
  

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