WASHINGTON – On a final, furious day of campaigning, Republicans pushed to capture control of the Senate, while Democrats struggled to limit their congressional losses in elections midway through an unpopular President Barack Obama’s second term.
“The spending, the borrowing, the taxing, the overregulation, the slow growth. ... These people need to be stopped,” Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said of the Democrats on Monday, urging voters to support him and GOP limited-government candidates everywhere. He would be in line to control the Senate’s agenda as majority leader if Republicans win on Tuesday.
Democrats weighed down by Obama’s unpopularity kept their distance from him and looked to a costly turn-out-the-vote operation in the most competitive Senate races to save their seats and their majority.
“There are two people on the ballot tomorrow: me and Scott Brown,” said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire as she made the rounds of six campaign stops on the race’s final full day.
North Carolina Sen. Kay Hagan was one Democrat in a marquee race quietly accepting a bit of last-minute help from the president. She has spent much of the year distancing herself from Obama, but her campaign sponsored a radio ad featuring Obama calling her a tireless leader “who shares our priorities.” It was unclear where Hagan’s campaign was airing the ads, but other candidates have used similar ads to boost turnout among African-American voters still loyal to the president.
The cost of the campaign climbed toward $4 billion, and there seemed no end to the attack ads on television – or to the requests for donations keep them on the air.
“Soon your inbox won’t be crowded with campaign emails – that’s a relief!” said a message from the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Then: a request for “just $25, $50, $100 or anything you’re able to give. ...”
The campaign pace was punishing, especially in the larger states. In Georgia, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jason Carter emailed supporters that he had traveled 1,350 miles over the weekend.
All 435 House seats are on Tuesday’s ballot, and not even Democrats predicted they would be able to take control away from the Republicans. Instead, they concentrated on protecting their incumbents, a strategy that meant tacitly conceding races in Utah, New York and North Carolina where retirements created opportunities for Republicans to pad their majority.
The lack of suspense about the House made control of the Senate the election’s main prize.
Republicans need a gain of six seats to capture the majority. They were all but assured of winning Democratic-held seats in West Virginia, Montana and South Dakota, and Democrats held out little hope that Sen. Mark Pryor of Arkansas could win re-election.
Polls suggested that races in Iowa, Colorado and Alaska tilted the Republicans’ way, too – although Democrats said their get-out-the-vote operation made any predictions unreliable.
