In a sweeping victory, the Republicans came out of the Nov. 5 midterm elections as the majority party in both the House of Representatives and Senate.
Senator Tom Daschle (D-South Dakota) told the Associated Press that President George W. Bush deserves “good credit” for the results. He pointed specifically to the President focusing on the war on terror and international issues like North Korea and Iraq greatly overshadowing the Democrat’s efforts to focus the nation’s attention on the economy, health care and education. He said that while the Democrats had a relevant economic plan, they “weren’t successful” in sharing it with the voters due to insufficient media coverage of the issue.
House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt (D-Missouri) credits the Republican’s midterm election victory to the President’s 65 percent approval rating. He described it as “unusual.” Further, he believes that part of the victory had to do with the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and the raw feelings people continue to have.
Further, Congressman Gephardt claims, “The Republicans had tremendous amounts of special interest money. The pharmaceutical companies spent probably $50 million or $60 million supporting all Republican candidates and that blurred a lot of the issue on prescription drugs.”
The current House Minority Leader believes that the issues that his party focused on (Social Security, jobs, prescription drugs, the economy and pension security) will not just vanish. He foresees people in the future wondering what has happened on those issues.