WASHINGTON — A takeover of the House in sight, Republicans brimmed with confidence while Democrats braced for losses on the eve of recession-era elections for control of Congress and dozens of statehouses.
“The American people are in charge,” said Republican House leader John Boehner, vowing to shrink the size and cost of government if his party wins power today.
Favorites and underdogs alike went through their final campaign paces Monday, beckoning voters to turn out in the small towns of swing House districts and in large urban centers where statewide races are won and lost.
“It does us no good that people are supporting us if they don’t turn into voters,” said Marco Rubio, a Republican rated a strong favorite for a Senate seat in a tangled, multi-candidate race in Florida.
“When people vote, we win,” said Sen. Blanche Lincoln, an Arkansas Democrat whose re-election bid was written off weeks ago by strategists in her own party.
President Barack Obama was home from the campaign trail at the White House after a weekend rush through four states. In an interview with radio host Michael Baisden, he backtracked from previous comments, criticized by Republicans, in which he said Latino voters should punish their “enemies” at the polls. He said he should have used the word “opponents” instead.
The president traveled to 14 states in the final month of the campaign, some of them twice, in a bid to rekindle the enthusiasm of young voters, liberals, blacks and independents whose ballots propelled him to the White House.
Vice President Joe Biden campaigned in Vermont, where a close gubernatorial election loomed, before heading to his home state of Delaware — one of the few bright spots on the Democratic map this year.
There was little or no doubt that Republicans would pick up seats in a campaign their leaders cast as a repudiation of the president’s policies.
In the Senate, in particular, the size of the gains depended on the fate of several Tea Party-backed candidates who toppled establishment candidates in the primaries. Most prominent among them are Rand Paul in Kentucky and Sharron Angle, who is challenging Majority Leader Harry Reid in Nevada.
“This election is entirely about him and this big majority in Congress and what they’ve been doing for the last two years,” said Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. “Having said that, the next move is really his. . . . If he pivots and heads in our direction on spending and debt, that will be a good indication he’s listened to the American people.”
Boehner campaigned in his home state of Ohio, where Republicans hope to pick off as many as a half-dozen Democratic House seats and make him the country’s most powerful member of his party. He would be likely to become House speaker if the GOP takes control.
In remarks prepared for a rally in Cincinnati, he said, “Our first priority will be to create new jobs . . . to get our economy moving again by ending the uncertainty facing small businesses.”
He pledged weekly votes in Congress to cut federal spending, vowed to extend tax cuts due to expire at year’s end and said Republicans would “fight to repeal” Obama’s health care legislation and replace it with unspecified reforms.
All 435 House seats are on the ballot today, and Republicans need to gain 40 to regain the majority they lost four years ago.
There are 37 Senate elections, and Republicans need to pick up 10 to win the majority, a more distant possibility than gaining House control.
