Republicans failed to capture the US Senate, but cut deeply into the Democratic majority by picking up at least six seats in the upper chamber after bitterly fought mid-term elections.
Conservatives could pick up two more spots if a pair of races deemed too close to call yesterday go their way.
Losing the Senate would have capped off an already miserable night for the Democrats who were routed in the House of Representatives as US President Barack Obama received a stinging electoral rebuke two years into his reform quest.
Obama was spared the humiliation of losing his top senator Harry Reid in Nevada, but Republicans picked up Arkansas, Indiana, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and even the president’s old Senate seat in Illinois.
Only 37 seats in the 100-seat chamber were up for grabs as roughly a third of the Senate is elected every two years. Republicans needed to pick up 10 seats and not lose any of their own to cross the crucial 50 threshold.
After wins in Arkansas, Indiana and North Dakota gave Republicans their first three gains, Rand Paul in Kentucky and Marco Rubio in Florida notched up the Tea Party movement’s debut wins.
With former White House budget director Rob Portman winning in the key swing state of Ohio — crucial to Obama’s chances of staying in the White House in 2012 — it was a promising start for the Republicans.
However, that was before Joe Manchin: The vital victory of the gun-toting governor — an unlikely Democrat — over businessman John Raese in West Virginia meant Republicans had to win every seat still in play.
Any remaining hopes the Grand Old Party had of a clean sweep of Congress were dashed when Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer kept her seat in California, fending off a challenge from former Hewlett-Packard boss Carly Fiorina.
Paul in Kentucky handed an early symbolic victory to the Tea Party, defeating his Democratic rival Jack Conway to be crowned the conservative grassroots movement’s first US senator.
Rubio, a Hispanic rising star, captured the second Senate seat for the Tea Party after a three-way race in Florida, defeating Republican governor Charlie Crist, who ran as an independent, and a Democratic rival.
The Tea Party, which has adopted former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin as its main backer, first burst onto the political scene last year amid growing public anger at the souring economy.
It has no formal leaders or organization, but remains a loose-knit collection of movements committed to smaller government and slashing taxes.
While the movement has successfully tapped into a groundswell of discontent, many US voters remain wary of Tea Party activists, such as Delaware’s Christine O’Donnell, whose views are often seen as too extreme.
O’Donnell’s loss to Chris Coons in the race for Vice President Joe Biden’s old seat gave the Democrats their first win of the night. These were quickly followed by victories in Connecticut and New York that steadied the ship.
After Boxer’s decisive California win, all eyes were on Nevada. There, Tea Party darling Angle ran Reid down to the wire.
His win left the Democratic side with 51 seats, including two who are independents, but normally vote with the Democratic caucus — and the Republicans with 46.
Colorado and Washington — both with Democratic incumbents — were too close to call, with each potentially facing recounts.
Incumbent Lisa Murkowski led in the final race in Alaska after losing in the Republican primary to Tea Party poster boy Joe Miller and running as a write-in candidate.
That meant that for votes cast for Murkowski to count, voters had to write her name on the ballot and fill in a space next to her name.
With a reported 88 percent of ballots counted in the remote state, Murkowski led with 40 percent, compared with Miller’s 35 percent and 24 percent for Democrat challenger Scott McAdams.
“We are in the process of making history,” Murkowski told CNN yesterday, stopping short of claiming outright victory.
A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off Yilan at 11:05pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter was located at sea, about 32.3km east of Yilan County Hall, at a depth of 72.8km, CWA data showed There were no immediate reports of damage. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Yilan County area on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. It measured 4 in other parts of eastern, northern and central Taiwan as well as Tainan, and 3 in Kaohsiung and Pingtung County, and 2 in Lienchiang and Penghu counties and 1
A car bomb killed a senior Russian general in southern Moscow yesterday morning, the latest high-profile army figure to be blown up in a blast that came just hours after Russian and Ukrainian delegates held separate talks in Miami on a plan to end the war. Kyiv has not commented on the incident, but Russian investigators said they were probing whether the blast was “linked” to “Ukrainian special forces.” The attack was similar to other assassinations of generals and pro-war figures that have either been claimed, or are widely believed to have been orchestrated, by Ukraine. Russian Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, 56, head
FOREIGN INTERFERENCE: Beijing would likely intensify public opinion warfare in next year’s local elections to prevent Lai from getting re-elected, the ‘Yomiuri Shimbun’ said Internal documents from a Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company indicated that China has been using the technology to intervene in foreign elections, including propaganda targeting Taiwan’s local elections next year and presidential elections in 2028, a Japanese newspaper reported yesterday. The Institute of National Security of Vanderbilt University obtained nearly 400 pages of documents from GoLaxy, a company with ties to the Chinese government, and found evidence that it had apparently deployed sophisticated, AI-driven propaganda campaigns in Hong Kong and Taiwan to shape public opinion, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported. GoLaxy provides insights, situation analysis and public opinion-shaping technology by conducting network surveillance
‘POLITICAL GAME’: DPP lawmakers said the motion would not meet the legislative threshold needed, and accused the KMT and the TPP of trivializing the Constitution The Legislative Yuan yesterday approved a motion to initiate impeachment proceedings against President William Lai (賴清德), saying he had undermined Taiwan’s constitutional order and democracy. The motion was approved 61-50 by lawmakers from the main opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the smaller Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), who together hold a legislative majority. Under the motion, a roll call vote for impeachment would be held on May 19 next year, after various hearings are held and Lai is given the chance to defend himself. The move came after Lai on Monday last week did not promulgate an amendment passed by the legislature that
RSS