What will happen in the 2006 mid-term elections?

As Vote Nears, Stances on War Set Off Sparks
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/01/us...s/01elect.html

Kerry's comment was supposed to be ""Do you know where you end up if you don't study, if you aren't smart, if you're intellectually lazy? You end up getting us stuck in a war in Iraq. Just ask President Bush." But apparently he botched it. It seems he was disparaging Bush as intellectually lazy not the troops. But apparently the remark came across "that people unable to succeed in the U.S. educational system would likely 'get stuck in Iraq.'" If Kerry mispoke and his comment was miscontrued then he should apologize and clarify. I don't understand the reluctance for someone to apologize if one's remarks have hurt or offended another.

White House insists Kerry apologize

Bush has yet to apologize (sincerely) about misleading the nation into the war in Iraq and lying about it.

WASHINGTON (AP) — So far this campaign, the political parties have exposed voters to nearly $160 million in ads attacking congressional candidates. How much spent painting a positive image? About $17 million.
That's nearly $1 of nice for every $10 of nasty.

Crap like this just pisses me off! Really, if it was my decision I would dissolve all political parties and have independents run the country. The current situation with political party bickering is out of hand. George Washington himself warned that the political parties would cause problems in the future in his exit speech. If only we would have listened to him.

Write in "Matthew Baird".

So Matt, what are you plans for 2008?

Also, write in Russ Watters - another very viable candidate.

In fact, write in your favorite PF personality.

Not enough to take the House? At this point, I figure Dems pick up 19 seats plus 10 races that are too close to call. And that ignores "hot" races with no polls, or only one less reliable poll. When Dems say 20-30 seats, I think the 20 is being very conservative to avoid making an election triumph look like Dems failing to meet expectations.

Unless Bush attacking Kerry can stir up some kind of miracle, the House is shaping up to be a slaughter. At this point, the race is to hold onto the Senate.

WASHINGTON - Fearful of damaging his own party in next week's elections, Sen. John Kerry apologized Wednesday to "any service member, family member or American" offended by remarks deemed by Republicans and Democrats to be insulting to U.S. forces in Iraq.

Six days before the election, the Democrats' 2004 presidential nominee said he wanted to avoid becoming a distraction in the final days of the battle for control of Congress. He added he sincerely regretted that his words were "misinterpreted to imply anything negative about those in uniform."

In a brief statement, Kerry attacked President Bush for a "failed security policy." Yet his apology, issued after prominent Democrats had urged him to cancel public appearances, was designed to quell a controversy that party leaders feared would stall their drive for big gains on Nov. 7.

With polls showing the public opposed to the war in Iraq, Democrats have expressed increasing optimism in recent days that they will gain the 15 seats they need to win control of the House. Democrats must pick up six seats to win the Senate, a taller challenge, and both parties made last-minute efforts to increase the number of competitive races.

For the Democratic senatorial committee, that meant pumping about $1 million into an Arizona race long thought out of reach. For the counterpart Republican committee, it meant a foray into Maryland, also viewed as an unlikely state to pick up a seat.

Fresh Air from WHYY, November 1, 2006 · Election reform expert Dan Seligson is the editor of Electionline.org, a nonpartisan and non-advocacy organization that tracks and analyzes election reform issues. The site is a venture of the Election Reform Information Project.

Well, Kerry apologized, and some Republicans are satsified.

In an interview Wednesday on CNN, Boehner said, "Let's not blame what's happening in Iraq on Rumsfeld."

CNN's Wolf Blitzer replied, "But he's in charge of the military."

"The fact is, the generals on the ground are in charge, and he works closely with them and the president," Boehner, an Ohio Republican, said.

"The fact is, the generals on the ground are in charge, and he works closely with them and the president," Boehner,

In upstate New York, Representative John E. Sweeney, a Republican who had seemed to be weathering a tough challenge, was described by party strategists as in new danger after his local newspaper, the Glens Falls Post Star, withdrew its endorsement of him, citing reports of a domestic violence episode involving Mr. Sweeney and his wife.

CLIFTON PARK -- U.S. Rep. John Sweeney and his wife on Wednesday acknowledged that State Police came to their home on Dec. 2, but they refuted a newspaper's reports that described the incident as domestic violence involving the couple.

"I do not need to be protected from John. At no time has John hurt me or done anything other than try to protect me," Gayle Sweeney, the congressman's wife, said in a conference call with reporters gathered at the Republican congressman's campaign office in Clifton Park.

Mrs. Sweeney said a published report stating she called 911 to report an incident of domestic violence was a "completely false allegation against my husband."

Congressman Sweeney, speaking directly to reporters about a half-hour later, also said he did not hit his wife.

. . . . The Times-Union of Albany reported Wednesday that State Police went to the Sweeneys' home in Clifton Park in December after his wife apparently called 911 to report an incident of domestic violence,

The Times-Union, citing a police report given to the newspaper, said the congressman's 36-year-old wife, Gaia, who goes by Gayle, had called police on Dec. 2 to report that her husband was "knocking her around," and told police that he had grabbed her by the throat and was pushing her around the house.

TROY - Three days after Rep. John Sweeney called on State Police to release the correct version of a domestic violence incident report, it remains more of an urban legend than a real document and it appears it will stay that way.

While not denying police were called to his Clifton Park home, Sweeney and his wife immediately said the report was falsified and called on State Police to release the original document to prove it. He also placed the blame on his opponent, Kirsten Gillibrand, for hiring someone to both leak the report and then for adding salacious details to make the incident seem more scandalous.

The Gillibrand hire who is suspect is Democratic Party adviser Howard Wolfson, the man Jones said he is investigating to see if he is the one who leaked the document. . . .

I was being conservative in my estimate.