The Mid Terms are almost over in the US and it appears to be bad news for the Republicans. They have definitely lost the House, with almost 30 seats picked up, giving them a significant majority. This will make Nancy Pelosi the first female Speaker of the House.

It is also looking increasingly likely that they will take control of the Senate as well. At present CNN has it called at 49 seats each for the Democrats and Republicans. The remaining two states are Montana and Virginia, both of which currently have the Democrat challengers in the lead. The Democrats must win both to win the Senate (as the Republican Vice President Dick Cheney breaks all tie votes in the Senate), but this is looking likely now.

So this will change things quite significantly, particularly towards September / October next year when the next federal budget needs to be passed.

While my political views are definitely fairly conservative and so I normally would support the Republicans, this time around I am fairly ambivilent. The last few Congresses have been fairly shocking with their massively increased spending, and lack of fiscal prudence. While I doubt that Democrats will do any better here, at least it may give time for the Republicans to get their act together. Hopefully before the next Presidential election.

Posted by Dave Bryant at 8:25 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)