Democrats need six of eight seats to gain control of the U.S. Senate. They said they are prepared with a list of issues they promised to undertake if this happens.
But voters will make the ultimate decision tomorrow. At the same time, some analysts predicted the election could result in a 50-50 tie between Democrats and Republicans.
Jim Manley, news spokesman for Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada, said that a 50-50 tie within the Senate “should serve as a useful guidepost for any negotiations” on power-sharing, according to Yahoo! News. If an evenly-divided Senate emerged, negotiating will hopefully be more bipartisan than in 2001, when, according to Yahoo! News, the atmosphere was far from cooperative.
Lewis Ringel, a Cal State Long Beach media and American politics professor, said the country has not seen an evenly-divided Senate since the earlier phases of President George W. Bush’s first term when Capitol Hill was officially bipartisan.
But if this happened in this year’s election, the Senate would technically be controlled by the Republican Party majority because Vice President Dick Cheney, taking on the role of the president of the Senate, would break the tie.
But CNN predicts that regardless of the outcome, the post-election Senate will re-evaluate its stance on the rationale for continuing the war in Iraq and will most likely be less supportive of Bush on the situation that has claimed more lives during this war than Saddam Hussein’s time in power.
According to CNN’s “America Votes 2006” coverage, a cluster of key and tight-knit Senate races will determine the reality for all predicted outcomes. In Ohio, Republican Sen. Mike DeWine trails Democratic Rep. Sherrod Brown 54 to 43 percent. Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey has a 51 to 44 lead over GOP Republican challenger Tom Ken Jr. Republican Sen. Jim Talent of Missouri is currently tied in the polls with Democratic challenger Claire McCaskill, both at 49 percent.
In Virginia, Jim Webb, a Democrat who is up against Republican Sen. George Allen, trails Webb 50 to 46 percent in the polls.
Democratic Rep. Harold Ford, Jr. of Tennessee is hoping to make history as the first black Senatorial candidate elected by Southern voters despite the recent controversies surrounding his character and qualifications. He is battling a close race with Republican opponent and the former mayor of Chattanooga, Tenn. Bob Corker. The race is for a seat left open by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, who has decided not to seek re-election.
“We’ve been through this before,” Bush said in a campaign for incumbent Republican Sen. Conrad Burns of Montana, another state involved in a tight race. He then proceeded by declaring the GOP will maintain its majority power in both the House and the Senate.
