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BOXED MISSING FOR AUGUST
003,006,055,077,188,199,228,233,
334,335,349,377,388,449, 499, 556,
779,111,222,777,999
| Date | State | Box | Straight |
| 08/13/2007 | CT (E) | 493 | |
| 08/13/2007 | DE (M) | 994 | |
| 08/13/2007 | FL (E) | 919 | |
| 08/13/2007 | GA (E) | 994 | |
| 08/13/2007 | KY (E) | 777 | |
| 08/13/2007 | NE (E) | 006 | |
| 08/13/2007 | Ontario (E) | 499 | |
| 08/13/2007 | PA (M) | 334 |
349 is the only 6-way number out for August. Move the scroll bar at the bottom to the right to see the entire image.
My favorite Walk it Out Dance on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXHrzFsKdSc
http://www.newsobserver.com/politics/jimblack/story/654479.html
We North Carolinians know that Jim Black was instrumental in us having a NC Lottery. He fought for it many many years, never giving up. He was approached many times by other representatives wearing mikes trying to get him to agree on crooked stuff in which he did not bite. He named them in his testimony. Why aren't they in jail too?
So, they went on a witch hunt to find something to get on him. They found a $25,000 discrepancies in his financial records, couldn't prove anything else and ruined his life just because he helped get NC a lottery. For all of you who didn't know - that's the reason he's in jail now. The media will make you think something different.
Those as*sholes couldn't stop the lottery (even with stupid lawsuits) so they hung him from the nearest tree. Giving him until Dec to raise 1 million dollars. How can a judge be brought like that? They should be in jail.
This is what I don't get....most politicians if you dig deep enough you will find something they should go to jail for and they all know it but if you do something that is not liked you will get crucified. Why is that acceptable in our society?
I don't turn my head to people breaking the law but I despise witch hunts. This bites my ass. So all of you NC people out there who love the lottery, this man was the sacrificial lamb and the revenge of the non-lottery group in us getting the lottery.
I knew non-lottery groups didn't want a lottery in NC, but my God, I didn't think they would go this far.
My tirade for today.
There's one good thing about the BAD DEBT with LAVERNE MALONEY and it that I will claim it as a bad debt on my taxes. She is posting as usually, never responded, never paid and a few people are praising her like she is not a predator. I just hope they never loan her money.
I can understand the hounds. They just want a hit, but that's what money will do to you.
Just want everybody to know that LAVERNE MALONEY never paid my money back and never responded.
The person who owes me money hit 1111 yesterday and is jumping up and down about other numbers they hit. I would say that is on your feet. I loaned them money to play and to get there.
I hope I get paid the money back she owes me. I really need my money. She have me on block in private and home email and I have no way of asking her if she will pay me back now.
How can someone owe someone money and not pay them back in good conscious?
https://www.lotterypost.com/thread/144295.htm http://www.lottotenaj.com/Vtracworkout.html Now I will give you an example of how numbers travel from state to state from my main system - followers. I use V-Tracs as a tracking tool for states I don't track. I can't help but chuckle to myself when fellow posters get all excited when they see a number traveling like crazy from state to state even posting it's performance with everybody's amazement and only chase after that one number. Even using over the top mathematical equations trying to figure it out, when all is needed is to track several states to see a pattern. I will use an example of a recent number that traveled the states and only the leading traveler was posted. 041 I know from many years of tracking - what numbers travel with that particular number. It's one of my favs and I don't usually give away my favs because sometimes people act like pigs in a parlor- We call them followers. It doesn't require V-Tracs, Lottery Math, sums, roots, filters, etc. or any other workout or method - only what you have seen happen over and over for years from tracking. A manually process of recording the draws, getting up close and personal and experiencing and connecting the draws as they happen. You can win more knowing followers because you know when and you know where because you track and have seen it happen there. 041 Traveling Alone
041 Traveling with it's Followers 047, 016, 267
How incredible is that the combos 016, 047 travels (followers) with 041 and just recently I have added 267 when Getfashions pointed out to me that 160 and 267 travels together so I added it to the arsenal after seeing it for myself. There is a double that travels with it as well but you have to keep something to yourself. So the V-Trac Lottery Math Method does the same thing but in a mathemathical way | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Our government is broke and we are in tremendous debt. China owns so much of the US, it's scary. China practically fund the war in Iraq. Unbelievable how much money the US has borrowed from China for that war.
Many Republicans voted straight Democatic tickets not because they believed in the Democratic party but voted against Bush and what the Republican party was. Totally out of control. They were angry because our borders are not secure and and the corruption behind that (one of the main reasons Walmart genereously favor Bush so much, they gave millions to his campaign).
People don't like the way the Republicans were spending money. Said they were spending it on the wrong things and borrowing too much. Our government has lost touch in what we value. Selective Democrat voting by Republicans even trumped the same sex marriage issue with 1/3 of the Christians voting Democrat- which was enough to uproot the party. I heard one say - we have eyes. So the Republicans didn't vote for the Democrat Party they voted against Bush. It was the Republican vote that won the white house for the Democrats.
That's what the polls are showing.
| Published: 11/10/06, 10:46 PM EDT By DOUGLASS K. DANIEL WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. military commanders are re-evaluating strategy in Iraq to determine what changes are needed "to get ourselves more focused on the correct objectives," the nation's top general said Friday. "I think we have to maintain our focus on what objectives we want for the United States, and then we need to give ourselves a good, honest scrub about what is working and what is not working, what are the impediments to progress, and what should we change about the way we're doing it to ensure that we get to the objective that we've set for ourselves," Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on "The Early Show" on CBS. Although he declined to state specifically what would change, Pace said what changes were needed were being evaluated by Gen. George Casey, the top commander in Iraq, and Gen. John Abizaid, the head of the command that oversees U.S. forces in the Mideast, as well as the joint chiefs. "We're making our recommendations, we're having our dialogue, and we'll make the changes that are needed to get ourselves more focused on the correct objectives," Pace said. The direction of U.S. policy in Iraq was receiving renewed focus following Tuesday's midterm elections, which resulted in a shift of power in Congress from Republicans to Democrats. GOP lawmakers have been generally supportive of the Bush administration's efforts in Iraq while congressional Democrats have been highly critical of Bush's conduct of the war. In a sign of possible change, Bush sought the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and on Wednesday nominated former CIA chief Robert Gates to replace him, saying a fresh perspective was necessary. Bush and his national security team were meeting Monday with members of a blue-ribbon commission trying to devise a new course for the war in Iraq. The bipartisan Iraq Study Group, led by former Secretary of State James A. Baker III and former Democratic Rep. Lee Hamilton of Indiana, was expected to report its recommendations before the end of the year. Members of the group were scheduled to have a joint conference at the White House with Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley. The group will have individual meetings with Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, National Intelligence Director John Negroponte and CIA Director Michael Hayden. They also will talk with Zalmay Khalizad, the U.S. ambassador in Baghdad. Gates was resigning as a member of the Iraq Study Group and will not take part in Monday's meetings, White House press secretary Tony Snow said. Lawrence Eagleburger, secretary of state in the last two months of President George H.W. Bush's term, will replace Gates on the commission, said Anais Haase, Eagleburger's executive assistant. Eagleburger, 76, was deputy secretary of state to Baker during the first Bush's administration and had a 27-year career as a diplomat. Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
| Published: 11/11/06, 1:26 AM EDT By LOLITA C. BALDOR  WASHINGTON (AP) - The Pentagon is developing plans that for the first time would send entire National Guard combat brigades back to Iraq for a second tour, the Guard's top general said in the latest sign of how thinly stretched the military has become. Smaller units and individual troops from the Guard have already returned to Iraq for longer periods, and some active duty units have served multiple tours. Brigades generally have about 3,500 troops. The move - which could include brigades from North Carolina, Florida, Arkansas and Indiana - would force the Pentagon to make the first large-scale departure from its previous decision not to deploy reserves for more than a cumulative 24 months in Iraq. For some units, a second tour would mean they would likely exceed that two-year maximum. The planning was described by Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum, who commands the Guard, in an Associated Press interview this week. In a related move, the Pentagon is preparing to release a list of active units - and perhaps reserves as well - scheduled to go to Iraq that would largely maintain the current level of forces there over the next two years, another senior defense official said on Thursday. There are about 152,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. That official requested anonymity because the plan has not been made public. The Pentagon routinely notifies units to prepare for deployment, knowing it is easier to cancel a move overseas than to suddenly make such a large troop movement. It was not clear whether this week's resignation of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld would affect deployment plans. President Bush has selected former CIA chief Robert Gates, who has criticized U.S. policy in Iraq, to replace Rumsfeld, but he has not yet been confirmed by the Senate. "We are doing contingency planning for one or two (units), and we have contingency plans for more than two if necessary," Blum said on Wednesday. The North Carolina brigade, he said, is being considered since it was one of the first to go to Iraq after the war began in 2003. Blum also said defense officials have been discussing whether they need to adjust their policy that limits the deployment of reserves in the war to 24 months. "When that policy was originally formulated, I seriously doubt anyone thought we would be where we are today, at the level of commitment that is necessary today," he said. Just last month, defense officials said the Marines are drawing up similar plans that would for the first time send some reserve combat battalions back to Iraq for a second tour. Under the authority by which Bush ordered a call-up of the Guard and Reserve after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, troops could be mobilized an unlimited number of times as long as each mobilization is no longer than 24 consecutive months. Until now, Pentagon officials have interpreted that as 24 cumulative months. While the ultimate goal for the National Guard is to deploy one year overseas and spend six years at home, Blum said the current demands could force soldiers to deploy as often as one year every three or four years. Blum said he believes that Guard combat brigades are prepared and willing to make a second trip to Iraq if needed. Blum said the first units to deploy in the war - such as the 30th Infantry Brigade from North Carolina, the 76th Infantry Brigade from Indiana, the 53rd Infantry Brigade from Florida, and the 39th Infantry Brigade from Arkansas - would likely be among those first called for a second tour. "Logic would lead you to go back to the ones that went first, and start going around again," said Blum. "But that's probably not exactly how we'll do it" because the decision will depend partly on what types of units are needed. Blum also said the Pentagon will no longer break up the brigades and send them to war in smaller units. He said the Guard wants to keep brigades together because they are more effective working as a team. All of the National Guard's combat units have been deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan as a full brigade except South Carolina's 218th Infantry. Smaller groups of its soldiers have been mobilized periodically for homeland defense and numerous missions abroad, including Iraq. Blum said the remainder of the 218th is preparing to go to Afghanistan next year, if needed. ___ On the Net: Defense Department: http://www.defenselink.mil Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. |
Published: 11/10/06, 4:26 PM EDT By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - A new recording Friday attributed to the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq mocked President Bush as a coward whose conduct of the war was rejected at the polls, challenging him to keep U.S. troops in the country to face more bloodshed. "We haven't had enough of your blood yet," taunted terror chieftain Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, identified as the speaker on the tape. He gloated over Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's resignation, claimed to have 12,000 fighters under his command who "have vowed to die for God's sake," and said his fighters will not rest until they blow up the White House and occupy Jerusalem. It was impossible to verify the authenticity of the 20-minute recording, posted on a Web site used by Islamic militants. The CIA said technical analysis was being conducted on the tape. Al-Muhajir, an Egyptian also known as Abu Ayyub al-Masri, boasted that al-Qaida in Iraq is moving toward victory faster than expected because of Bush's mistakes. White House spokesman Tony Snow said the Bush administration had no comment on the tape. The tape and its often far-fetched claims came as the U.S. military announced the deaths of five more service members in the 44-month-old conflict, which has grown increasingly unpopular at home. Twenty-six American service members have been killed in Iraq so far this month. At least 59 Iraqi civilians were killed or found dead Friday as the violence threatens to spiral into all-out civil war. In one of the day's bloodiest incidents, a suicide bomber in an explosives-rigged car killed six Iraqi soldiers he had lured from behind a checkpoint. Just hours earlier, Iraq's army said it captured the Egyptian leader of an al-Qaida cell in Anbar province, an insurgent stronghold. The audio message appeared to be an attempt to exact maximum propaganda benefit from the results of Tuesday's midterm elections, in which the Republicans lost control of both houses of Congress, in part because of the war. Al-Muhajir praised the American people for handing victory to the Democrats, saying: "They voted for something reasonable in the last elections." He also said Bush was "the most stupid president" in U.S. history. "We call on the lame duck not to hurry his escape the way the defense secretary did," al-Muhajir said in reference to Rumsfeld's resignation as Pentagon chief on Wednesday. "Remain steadfast on the battlefield, you coward," said al-Muhajir, who took over leadership of al-Qaida in Iraq after Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed in a U.S. airstrike in June. "We will not rest from our jihad (holy war) until we are under the olive trees of Rumieh and we have blown up the filthiest house - which is called the White House," al-Muhajir said. The "olive trees of Rumieh" appeared to be a reference to the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, or to Christendom as a continuation of the Roman empire. Al-Muhajir also told Iraqi Sunnis to ally with a shadowy mini-state that militants claim to have established last month under a man identified as Abu Omar al-Baghdadi. "I vow allegiance to you," he said, addressing al-Baghdadi as the "ruler of believers " and placing al-Qaida in Iraq fighters under his command. Friday's civilian death toll was little changed from previous days. The United Nations estimates about 100 Iraqis die in violence each day, while Iraq's health minister on Thursday estimated up to 150,000 civilians had been killed in the war - about three times previously accepted estimates of 45,000-50,000. At least 33 bodies were found Friday, most the victims of roving sectarian death squads that usually torture their victims before shooting them. Among the latest victims was a Sunni imam, Akram Jassim, 60, gunned down at the front entrance to his mosque in Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad, said Brig. Abdul Kerim al-Jubori, a spokesman for the provincial police. Meanwhile, Bush and his national security team will meet Monday with members of a blue-ribbon commission trying to devise a new course for the unpopular war. The bipartisan Iraq Study Group, led by former Secretary of State James A. Baker III and former Democratic congressman Lee Hamilton of Indiana, is expected to report its recommendations before the end of the year. Members of the group will have a joint conference at the White House with Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley. Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
|
Published: 11/9/06, 11:45 PM EDT
By JENNIFER LOVEN
AP - 11/9/06
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush and House Speaker-to-be Nancy
Pelosi, perhaps the biggest loser and winner on Election Day, pledged over
lunch Thursday to bury the hatchet and cooperate. When possible.
At the White House, where Bush had invited Pelosi for lunch, presidential
aides joked that there was no crow on the menu for Bush to eat.
Bush ate a little anyway, and he saluted Pelosi, not only as Tuesday's victor
but as the first woman who will ascend to the position of House speaker,
next in line to the presidency after the vice president.
"The elections are now behind us, and the congresswoman's party won,"
Bush said. "But the challenges still remain. And therefore, we're going to
work together to address those challenges in a constructive way."
Said Pelosi, like Bush all smiles: "We both extended the hand of friendship,
of partnership to solve the problems facing our country."
She was accompanied by Rep. Steny Hoyer, the House's second-ranking
Democrat. Bush was accompanied by a stony-faced Vice President Dick
Cheney.
The president and his guests sat down for a make-nice luncheon of pasta
salad and chocolate in Bush's private dining room off the Oval Office.
Later in the day, Bush telephoned Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid to
congratulate him on the Democrats' takeover in the Senate as well. The
switch in power in that chamber became sure Wednesday night, when
enough votes were counted to confirm the defeat of Virginia GOP Sen
George Allen. Reid, likely to be majority leader in the new Congress, was
getting his own meeting with Bush at the White House on Friday.
Meeting reporters in the Oval Office, Pelosi and Bush shook hands for the
cameras. The president and the woman whose party beat his this year
leaned forward in their silk-upholstered seats. They promised cooperation
in a government that, come January, will be divided between a Republican
White House and a Democratic Congress.
Though the two sought to show they were putting the barbs in the past, they
did not ignore the differences that they debated so hotly before the voting.
Pelosi has made clear that House Democrats will move immediately on
their agenda, much of it opposed by Bush, which includes cutting student
loan interest rates, funding embryonic stem cell research, authorizing the
federal government to negotiate lower drug prices for Medicare patients
and imposing a national cap on industrial carbon dioxide emissions.
She also has said that the election results mean Democrats not only want –
but expect - Bush to make a change of direction in Iraq .
"I look forward to working in a confidence-building way with the president,
recognizing that we have our differences and we will debate them," Pelosi
said at the president's side. "We've made history. Now we have to make
progress."
For his part, Bush has said that he'll listen to all suggestions on Iraq, except
for those that involve pulling troops out before the mission is complete. He
also says he still wants congressional approval for war-on-terror tools that
Democrats have vigorously questioned.
As Bush's press secretary, Tony Snow, put it, echoing what Bush said a day
earlier, the White House's intention is to cooperate but "don't trim back on
your principles."
Bush and Pelosi have met dozens of times before. But with both just getting
accustomed to new roles with each other, aides to both said it was more of
a tone-setting session than a time for brass-tacks negotiating.
They talked briefly about Iraq, without exploring specific policy changes
They discussed at length the degenerating situation in Sudan's violence-
wracked Darfur region.
Pelosi told reporters later that she suggested targets for initial compromise
that are favorite subjects of the president - increased production of
alternative energy, an immigration policy overhaul and ways to make
American workers more competitive in the global economy.
She said Bush did not raise the issue of getting his warrantless domestic
eavesdropping program approved by lawmakers. But, proclaiming that
"you have to govern from the center," she said agreement with the White
House is possible.
Both have much to lose if they do not find agreement somewhere.
Democrats are getting a chance to control Capitol Hill, and they believe
voters could take that privilege away in two years if they don't use it well.
Bush, meanwhile, will lead with a Congress entirely in the other party's
hands for the first time in his presidency. It could have him reaching back
to his experience as governor of Texas, when he cultivated friendships with
top Democrats in the state Legislature - and to his 2000 campaign promise
to be a "uniter not a divider."
Before Tuesday's election, Bush and his aides were asked repeatedly if they
could work with a Speaker Pelosi, or even whether they were preparing for
such an eventuality. They refused to answer. "That's not going to happen,"
Bush once snapped to an interviewer.
But times have changed and so has the White House's reply. Said White
House counselor Dan Bartlett: "We're definitely going to try."
Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Democrats Win Control of U.S. House
Updated: 11/8/2006 7:22 AM
By: Liz Sidoti, Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- Democrats won control of the House early Wednesday after a
dozen years of Republican rule in a resounding repudiation of a war, a president
and a scandal-scarred Congress.
"From sea to shining sea, the American people voted for change," declared
Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the hard-charging California Democrat in line to become
the nation's first female House speaker.
"Today we have made history," she said, "now let us make progress."
Lameduck Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., was elected to an 11th term,
but several GOP officials said they expected him to step down as party
leader and possibly even retire from Congress.
The White House made plans for President Bush to call the speaker-in-waiting,
Pelosi, first thing in the morning; he will enter his final two years in office with
at least half of Congress in the opposition party's hands.
"It's been kind of tough out there," Hastert said. Presidential spokesman
Tony Snow observed: "It's not like a slap on the forehead kind of shock."
By 5:15 a.m. Wednesday, Democrats had won 228 seats, enough for control,
and were leading for another 4, which would give them 232. Republicans, who
hold 229 seats in the current House, won 193 and were leading in another 10,
which would give them 203.
Democrats had captured 27 Republican-controlled seats, and no Democratic
incumbent had lost thus far. Races were too close to call in more than a dozen
seats, making it impossible to determine exactly how large the Democratic
margin would be.
Still, 2006 already was an eerie reversal of 1994, when the GOP gained 54 seats
in a wave that toppled Democrats after four decades. No Republican incumbent
lost that year.
This time, Republicans fell from power in every region of the country - conservative,
liberal and moderate - as well as in every type of district - urban, rural and suburban.
Exit polls showed middle class voters who fled to the GOP a dozen years ago
appeared to return to the Democrats.
Casualties of a Democratic call for change, three GOP congressmen lost in Indiana,
three more in Pennsylvania, two in New Hampshire, one in North Carolina, one in
Kansas, one in California and more elsewhere. Democrats won open seats, which
were held by Republicans, in New York, Ohio, Florida, Arizona, Colorado, Wisconsin,
Iowa and Texas.
Scandals that have dogged Republicans appeared to hurt GOP incumbents even more
than Bush's unpopularity and the nearly four-year-old war in Iraq.
Republicans surrendered the Texas seat of former Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who
left the House after being charged in a campaign finance scheme, the Ohio seat once
held by Bob Ney, who resigned after pleading guilty in a lobbying scandal, and the
Florida district of Mark Foley, who stepped down after the disclosure that he sent sexually
explicit messages to male congressional pages.
In Pennsylvania, Democrats defeated Curt Weldon in the fallout from a federal corruption
investigation and Don Sherwood who admitted to a long-term affair with a much younger
woman who says he choked her.
"Today the American people voted for change and they voted for Democrats to take their
country in a new direction, and that is exactly what we intend to do," Pelosi, who won an
11th term, told several hundred people celebrating in a Washington hotel ballroom.
A grandmother five times over, Pelosi vowed to restore integrity, civility and honesty to
Capitol Hill and said: "Democrats promise to work together in a bipartisan way for all
Americans."
As her remarks ended, U2's "Beautiful Day" blared and red, white and blue confetti drifted
from above.
"You have given us a chance to turn this country around, and we'll give you the government
that no longer lets you down." Rep. Rahm Emanuel, the head of the Democrats' House
campaign, told the crowd.
Ethics woes, the war and overall anger toward Bush appeared to drive voters to the
Democrats, according to surveys by The Associated Press and the television networks
of voters as they left voting places. Several traditionally hard-fought demographic groups
were choosing Democrats, including independents, moderates, and suburban women.
Those exit polls also showed that three in four voters said corruption was very important
to their vote, and they tended to vote Democratic. In a sign of a dispirited GOP base,
most white evangelicals said corruption was very important to their vote - and almost a
third of them turned to the Democrats.
Two out of three voters called the war very important to them and said they leaned toward
the Democrats, while six in ten voters said they disapproved of the war. About the same
number said they were dissatisfied with the president - and they were far more likely
to vote Democratic.
Additionally, eight in ten voters called the economy very important to their House vote,
and those who said it was extremely important - about four in ten voters - turned to
Democrats.
All 435 House seats were on the ballot, and most incumbents won easy re-election.
The current lineup: 229 Republicans, 201 Democrats, one independent who lines up
with the Democrats for organizational purposes, and four vacancies, three of them in
seats formerly held by Republicans.
The fight for control came down to 50 or so seats, nearly half in a swath from
Connecticut through New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. All were in
Republican hands, a blend of seats coming open and incumbents in trouble.
For months, national surveys showed Democrats favored over Republicans by
margins unseen since 1990 as voters grew restless with the Bush administration
and seemed more ready to end one-party rule on Capitol Hill.
American casualties and costs climbed in Iraq, and public support for the war fell,
as did approval ratings for Congress along with the president.
Scandals dogged the ruling party as well.
DeLay, R-Texas, was charged with participating in a campaign finance scheme and
resigned from the House. Ney, R-Ohio, resigned, too, after pleading guilty in the
Jack Abramoff influence-peddling investigation. A month before the election, Foley,
R-Fla., left office when it was disclosed that he had sent sexually explicit electronic
communications to male, former congressional pages.
Through it all, Democrats cast the race as a national referendum on Bush and Iraq,
accusing Republicans of walking in lockstep with the president and rubber stamping
his policies.
Republicans insisted the elections came down to choices between individual candidates
from coast to coast - and that Democrats were liberals who would raise taxes, flee from
Iraq and be soft on terrorists.
Initially, Democrats targeted GOP-held seats left open by retiring Republicans as well as
districts where Bush won by close margins in 2004 - many in the Northeast and Midwest.
In recent weeks, Democrats were able to expand the battlefield, mounting plays for seats
long in Republican hands, such as in Wyoming and Idaho.
The GOP made serious bids for only a handful of Democratic-held seats, including two
districts in Georgia that the Republican legislature redrew to make more hospitable to
the GOP. The only two endangered Democrats appeared to be in those districts, where
the vote totals were so close the races appeared to be headed to recounts.
One of the Democratic victories was in Louisiana, where scandal-tarred Rep. William
Jefferson was forced into a runoff against another Democrat.
Along with elections for the next Congress, there were two contests to fill vacancies
for the remaining few months of this Congress.
Republican Shelley Sekula-Gibbs will fill DeLay's unexpired term in the Houston suburbs,
but only until DeLay's successor, Democrat Nick Lampson, is sworn in come January.
And in New Jersey, Democrat Albio Sires will be seated early as a replacement for Bob
Menendez who left his House seat for the Senate.
Copyright 2006 Associated Press, All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed
Analysis: Election May Bring Bush Worry
Published: 11/6/06, 10:25 PM EDT
By TERENCE HUNT
WASHINGTON (AP) - Running out of time and influence, President Bush
faces a rough road in the twilight of his presidency regardless of who controls
Congress.
The once-unshakable loyalty of congressional Republicans is weakening.
After marching in lockstep with the White House for six years, GOP lawmakers
are looking at the political calendar and thinking about their own futures rather
than Bush's legacy in his last two years in office.
Republicans are in a sour mood, scarred by corruption scandals, held in low
esteem by voters and divided over issues from deficit spending to immigration
reform. Many GOP candidates shunned Bush in their campaigns, fearing he
would hurt rather than help them.
With the end of the midterm elections and the opening of the 2008 presidential race,
Republicans as well as Democrats will be telling the country how they would do things
differently from Bush.
Already a huge headache, the Iraq war hangs over Bush as the dominant issue for
the remainder of his presidency. Even before this year's elections, Republican senators
If Democrats should take the House or Senate, Bush's problems would only get worse.
Shut out of power for a dozen years and bitter at Bush for ignoring them, Democrats
would demand a role in setting the nation's agenda and throw up roadblocks to the
president's plans. Pressuring Bush on Iraq, Democrats would have subpoena powers
to investigate the president's conduct of the war and to demand accountability.
The White House also could get snarled in Democratic-run investigations of issues
ranging from Vice President Dick Cheney's secret energy policy deliberations to
White House links with Republican corruption scandals.
"It won't be a happy place to work in the next couple of years," said John Podesta,
who has firsthand knowledge about running a White House in troubled times.
He was Bill Clinton's chief of staff during the tumultuous days of the Monica Lewinsky
scandal and Clinton's impeachment.
"Whereas you had a kind of lapdog Congress in the past, you're going to have a
significant challenge," Podesta said of Bush. "Even if the Republicans retain control,
you'll see even more questioning on the Senate side."
With Democrats in charge, there would be little chance that Bush's prized tax cuts
would be renewed. His drive to expand his executive authority and national security
powers would be blocked.
Even with Republicans in control, Bush's agenda has been stalled, his blueprints for
overhauling Social Security and immigration collecting dust.
Time and history are not on his side.
"It seems like most presidents get less done in the last two years than they did in the
earlier part of their term," said Charles Black, a GOP strategist with close ties to the
White House. "Some of it is you don't have as much influence. People are paying
attention to who might come next instead of who is there now."
Before they leave, presidents sometimes try to shape their legacy with foreign
policy victories. Clinton desperately sought a Middle East peace agreement in
the closing days of his presidency but failed. The Middle East offers scant
hope for Bush, too. Trouble spots like North Korea and Iran look bleak.
Bush insists he has a lot to do and isn't slowing down. After the election,
he plans to send Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to Capitol Hill to see
what's possible in terms of overhauling the financially troubled Social
Security and Medicare programs.
"The general approach is to be activist and tackle big stuff," White House
press secretary Tony Snow said. "You've got a very energized and motivated
White House. We're going to see how Congress is in dealing with this.
Maybe it's just wishful thinking but we may be approaching the point
of mudslinging burnout."
Even if Democrats win, Bush still would have clout. As commander in
chief, he is responsible for American forces. There isn't much talk about
Congress cutting off funds for war.
Probably the most potent weapon in Bush's arsenal would be his veto pen
and, almost certainly, a veto-sustaining minority if Democrats took the House.
He also would have the power of executive orders allowing him to make big
moves without Congress' approval. Clinton used that authority, for example,
to protect vast tracts of public land from road-building, logging and mining.
Democrats and Republicans alike suggest there are areas of possible agreement
on issues such as alternative fuel sources and the No Child Left Behind education
law that has to be renewed next year.
A key question is whether Democrats, Republicans and the White House decide
it's in their political interest to get some things done.
"An awful lot can happen in two years," said Leon Panetta, a onetime Democratic
congressman who became Clinton's chief of staff. "In many ways it can determine
his legacy as president of the United States. If there's nothing but gridlock these
last two years, mark my words: He's not going to have a very high place in history
in terms of his presidency."
___
EDITOR'S NOTE - Terence Hunt has covered the White House for
The Associated Press since the Reagan presidency.
Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten
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