U.S. midterms underway

Today’s elections will make history for being the most expensive ever, and possibly for being the most devastating to the governing party.

While losses for the president’s party are common during midterm elections, deep dissatisfaction over Barack Obama’s first two years in office are expected to hand the Republicans gains in Congress that could reach historic levels. In the days leading up to today’s $3.5-billion election, which puts the entire House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate up for grabs, Democrats frantically defended their legislative record, arguing that while unemployment remains at 9.6 per cent Obama’s stimulus package saved the country from a worse recession. While that might be true, 75 per cent of voters say the country is still headed in the wrong direction, the highest percentage since pollsters started asking the question in the 1970s.