NATIONAL: Independents say partisan control will be an issue in mid-term elections

Loss of congress could be bad for Bush
TOM RAUM
Associated Press/Ft. Wayne Journal GazetteApr. 26, 2006 ....History suggests the party holding the White House will loose congressional seats this year, even without Bush's basement poll ratings. Strategists in both parties are keenly aware of this trend.
The recent surge in gasoline prices just adds to the GOP's midterm woes.
Thus Democrats are portraying the November elections as a referendum on Bush, while Republicans are insisting it's a series of state and local races, each with different issues.
In a recent poll by the Pew Research Center, some 56 percent of voters said the issue of party control would be a factor in their vote in the midterm congressional elections. "More independents, in particular, say partisan control will be a factor," said Carroll Doherty, Pew's associate director.... more