A senior former White House official on Monday predicted that the Republicans would suffer heavy losses in the midterm elections, despite polls showing a cut in the Democratic party’s lead.
Former United States deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage — a Republican who opposed the Iraq war — said his party would pay the price for presenting an ”angry face” to the world after the September 11 attacks.
”We were showing a very snarly and angry face,” Armitage said. ”I think it’s understandable to a certain degree. But we’re well past that now, and it’s time to turn another face to the world, back to more traditional things such as the export of hope and opportunity.”
Although the latest polls ahead of Tuesday’s vote show the Republicans gaining on the Democrats, Armitage predicted that the Democrats would retake the House of Representatives with a majority of between 20 and 25 seats.
The party can take a majority in the House with the addition of 15 seats, and in the Senate with the addition of six. All 435 House seats and 33 of the 100 Senate seats are up for a vote, and there are governor races in 36 of the 50 states.
Democrats, however, will not be taking anything for granted, having seen victory snatched away from them at the last minute before — notably in the Bush-Gore race of 2000 — and the latest polls will make the party nervous.
A Pew Research Centre poll showed a significant narrowing of the gap the Democrats have enjoyed in the House races for much of the year. The findings were similar to those of a Washington Post-ABC News poll released at the weekend.
The Pew poll showed that the Democratic advantage had dropped to 47% compared with the Republicans’ 43% among likely voters, down from 50% to 39% two weeks ago.
A USA Today/Gallup poll showed the Democrats leading the Republicans by 51% to 44% among likely voters on the ”generic vote” — the question of which party voters intend to support in House races — down from a 13% margin two weeks ago.
Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat hoping to become the first female speaker of the House, said she was cautiously optimistic about Tuesday’s elections.
”We are thankful for where we are today, to be poised for success,” she said in Colchester, Connecticut. ”But we have two Mount Everests we have to climb — they are called Monday and Tuesday.”
Meanwhile, President George Bush was on Monday urging Republicans in southern states to get out and vote.
Republicans hope their party’s more efficient electoral machine can mobilise voters to limit losses in a campaign that is being seen as a referendum on the president and his calamitous handling of the Iraq war.
Bush has featured in many Democratic ads, while the unpopular president’s fellow Republicans have sought to distance themselves from him as much as possible.
In local elections, candidates seek to ride on the coat-tails of a popular leader. In this midterm, however, Bush’s coat-tails have been threadbare. — Guardian Unlimited Â