Bush legacy at stake as US goes to vote
Foreign Desk Report

WASHINGTON—Republican control of Congress was on the line Tuesday in an election colored by voters’ dismay over theIraq war and misbehavior in Washington. At stake in the midterm election were all 435 House seats, 33 in the Senate, 36 races for governor, ballot measures on gay marriage, embryonic stem cell research, the minimum wage and more — plus the overarching fate of President Bush’s agenda in the last two years of his presidency.
In a climate inhospitable if not toxic for incumbents, Democrats hoped finally to answer the rout that drove them from legislative power in 1994. Even their opponents conceded Democrats were certain to make gains and, despite brave words for public consumption, Republicans worried that control of the House would slip from their hands. Even Senate control was up in the air, but a tougher climb for Democrats.
Unsurprisingly, the chairmen of the Democratic and Republican parties talked optimistically as voters went to the polls Tuesday. “I believe we’re going to defy the experts and maintain our majority in the House and the Senate,” GOP Chairman Ken Mehlman said on CBS’s “The Early Show.” Countered Howard Dean, his Democratic opposite number: “If you want change, we can give you change.”
That’s just what 60-year-old Ron Bowman, a Democrat from Windsor, Conn., had on his mind when he went out to vote first thing Tuesday. “It was a chance for a change,” he said, after casting his ballot for Democratic senatorial candidate Ned Lamont over incumbent Sen. Joe Lieberman, running as an independent.
Another voter who echoed Bowman’s sentiment, Shirley Swanson of Windsor, said that she, too, voted for Lamont. “He’s not Lieberman. Joe isn’t listening to us,” she said. Bush flew to his home state of Texas to vote, finishing a restrained five-day round of campaigning mostly in GOP strongholds. His presence on the stump was a mixed blessing for candidates attracted to the attention and fundraising prowess generated by a president but nervous about being associated too closely — or even seen with — an unpopular leader. Charlie Crist, a Republican running to succeed Bush’s brother Jeb as Florida governor, bailed from a planned appearance with Bush in a safely Republican section of the Panhandle, an embarrassing snub on the eve of voting.
Bush gamely pressed on with lacerating attacks on Democrats at that Pensacola rally of 7,000 loud supporters. “The Democrat philosophy is this: If it breathes, tax it, and if it stops breathing, find its children and tax them,” Bush shouted. Former President Clinton responded sharply in kind: “They can’t run anything right,” he said, taunting Republicans about Iraq, Hurricane Katrina recovery and scandal in Washington.