Washington – Democrats claimed momentum heading toward the Nov. 7 elections as they sought to tap into voter unhappiness over the war in Iraq. Republicans challenged polls showing a Democratic edge and said a major voter-turnout effort would help them stay in power and limit losses.
Both sides agreed Sunday that the war in Iraq was a leading, if not central, issue in the contests to decide control of the House and Senate.
“This election is becoming more and more a referendum on George Bush, his failed policies both overseas and at home with a rubber-stamp Congress,” said Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, head of the Senate Democratic campaign committee.
His Republican counterpart, Sen. Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina, said Iraq and the broader fight against terrorism were important issues but that “President Bush’s name is not on the ballot.” Democrats, she said, were trying “to make it a national referendum.”
Schumer and Dole were among the politicians and party leaders who sparred on the Sunday talk shows nine days before the elections.
Democrats need a gain of 15 seats to win control of the 435- member House and six seats to claim the 100-member Senate.
With approval slumping for the war and the president, recent polls show Democrats have their best chance to reclaim the House since the GOP swept them from power in 1994, and a shot at capturing the Senate as well.
As the candidates entered their final full week of campaigning, House Democrats worked to emphasize the GOP role in the Iraq war.
The party’s campaign committee said it would air television commercials criticizing Republicans for supporting the war in about a dozen competitive races in the coming days.
“Despite a war gone wrong and no plan for victory, politicians like (Rep.) Rob Simmons keep voting to stay the course again and again,” says one commercial airing in Connecticut.
Democrats have increased the number of races where they are advertising in recent days, a sign of confidence as the election approaches. In addition to new offensives in Kansas, Kentucky and New Hampshire, officials disclosed plans to run commercials against Republican Rep. Jim Walsh this week in the area around Syracuse, N.Y.
House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said polls showing a Democratic advantage, especially in the House, “don’t mean anything because what we have are 435 individual races all around the country, local candidates running on local issues.”
