Republicans hope for boost from economic news
Marketwatch - September 29, 2006 11:16 AM ET
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Republican lawmakers and strategists hope that falling gasoline prices, a buoyant stock market and other positive economic news will stave off a Democratic surge in the midterm elections.
Polls show voters remain unhappy with President Bush's job handling and with the Republican-led Congress. But improvement in some economic sectors has given Republicans the chance to turn around some negative impressions in the final weeks before the Nov. 7 midterm elections, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday. See story on WSJ.com (subscription required)
"There's no question the Republicans have been due for a break and they've finally gotten it, between the stock-market rise and the fall of gasoline prices," Republican Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma, told the newspaper. Gas prices have "an enormous impact on [voter] psychology and their belief that the incumbents are doing the right thing."
The report noted that consumer spending and business investment are holding up, unemployment is steady at 4.7% and, on Thursday, the Commerce Department reported that new-home sales in August rose at a 4.1% pace from July, a possible sign that the slowdown in the residential real-estate market may be stabilizing.
Not all the news is positive. The economy slowed down over the summer amid higher interest rates, rising energy prices and a weaker housing market.
Democrats say their argument that the middle-class families aren't getting ahead will continue to resonate.
"We're seeing an economy that is doing very well for the wealthiest five or ten percent... [but] middle and working and poorer families aren't seeing a raise," Democratic Rep. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, who is in a tight race for the Senate with incumbent Republican Mike DeWine, told the Journal. "The economy is not there to serve only to make profits...for corporations."
Poll: GOP House campaign honcho in tight race
Rep. Tom Reynolds of New York, the head of the committee that coordinates House Republican campaign efforts, is facing a tough battle for re-election in his Buffalo-area district, according to a new poll.
A SurveyUSA poll of 491 likely conducted for television station WGRZ in Buffalo between Sept. 25 and 27 found 45% of voters backing Reynolds, with 43% supporting Democratic challenger Jack Davis, a local businessman.
Eight percent of voters supported Green Party candidate Christine Murphy, although the state election board ruled on Sept. 26 that her candidacy was invalid.
Reynolds holds a fundraising advantage over Davis, according to the Hill, a newspaper that covers Congress, raising almost $3 million for his own reelection. Davis has pledged to spend $2 million of his own money in his race against Reynolds, the chairman of the National Republican Campaign Committee.
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