GOP LANDSLIDE: Obama conciliatory following poll setback, writes LARA MARLOWE
THE REPUBLICAN party has taken control of the US House of Representatives in its biggest midterm election victory in 72 years.
The Grand Old Party (GOP) also took a majority of governorships and state legislatures across the country, and increased its presence in the Senate significantly.
Energised by the Tea Party, which made deficit spending and debt the main issue of the campaign, the Republicans gained at least 60 seats in the House, and should win several more by the time 11 close contests are resolved.
The Democrats won at least 51 seats in the Senate, giving them a wafer-thin majority.
Two Senate races are still being counted, among them Alaska, where incumbent Republican Lisa Murkowski stood as a write-in candidate after Joe Miller, a Tea Party advocate, ousted her in the primary.
The write-in ballots may take weeks to count, but Murkowski is leading. If she wins, it will be only the second time a Senator won a write-in campaign.
Republicans added at least eight governors’ offices to the 24 (out of 50) which they already held, with six gubernatorial races yet to be determined.
In California, former chief executive of eBay Meg Whitman proved money can’t buy love, even in politics, when she lost to Democrat Jerry Brown after spending $160 million (€113 million) of her personal fortune in the campaign.
President Barack Obama reacted to what he labelled “a shellacking” in an hour-long press conference at the White House. Mr Obama said the results showed “people are frustrated, deeply frustrated . . . they want to know tax dollars are spent wisely, that we are not going to leave our children a legacy of debt”.
Amid fears that divided government could spell two years of paralysis, Mr Obama repeatedly mentioned the need to “find common ground” with Republicans. The priority, he said, was “the contest between America and our economic competitors”.
Mr Obama and Republican John Boehner, speaker-elect of the House, stressed the need to “strap on the boots” and “roll up our sleeves”.
Mr Obama suggested that the executive and legislative branches would be able to co-operate on energy policy, saying “cap and trade was just one way of skinning the cat”.
Compromises may be reached on extending Bush-era tax cuts and reversing the government’s “don’t ask don’t tell” policy on gays in the military during the “lame duck” session until January.
But the president defended his healthcare Bill, which the Republicans have vowed to repeal.
It was “absolutely critical” to make sure families had security “and that we were on a trajectory to lower healthcare costs . . . I think the outcome was a good one”.
Mr Obama challenged the Republicans: “So what are their proposals to grow the economy? I don’t think tax cuts alone are a recipe for the kind of expansion that we need.”
Republican leaders showed unusual restraint. “This is not a time for celebration,” Mr Boehner said twice in his victory speech. “Not when one in 10 of our fellow citizens are out of work, not when we have buried our children under a mountain of debt, not when our congress is held in such low esteem.”
Rarely has such an unpopular party won such a great victory. Exit polls showed that only one quarter of Americans approve of the way Congress does its job, and more than 50 per cent had negative opinions of both parties.
“This is a second chance for us,” Republican Eric Cantor, the House minority whip who will become the majority leader in January, told CNN. “If we blow it again, we will be in the wilderness for a very long time.”
Marco Rubio, the Cuban-American Tea Party candidate who won a Senate seat in Florida, warned Republicans: “We make a grave mistake if we believe that tonight these results are somehow an embrace of the Republican Party. What they are is a second chance . . . for Republicans to be what they said they were going to be not so long ago.”
Rand Paul, another Tea Party advocate who won a Senate seat when he defeated attorney general Jack Conway, made the most brash statement: “I have a message from the people of Kentucky . . . that is loud and clear and does not mince words – we’ve come to take our government back!
“Tonight, there’s a Tea Party tidal wave.”