Republicans set to grab control of Congress in US mid-term elections

As the months-long, US$4 billion mid-term election battle comes to a head with tomorrow's vote, President Barack Obama's bloodied Democrats face an uphill struggle to hold their ground in Congress. Republicans have the momentum and are ideally positioned to snatch a Senate majority that would put Obama's rivals in charge of both chambers of Congress during his last two years in the White House. Polls show most Americans feel the country is on the wrong track, emboldening Republican candidates, who must either deliver a win or see their own agenda thwarted by Senate leaders still loyal to an unpopular president. "We are at a crossroads right now," Republican Joni Ernst, fighting one of the nation's tightest Senate races in Iowa, said at a campaign stop near the climax of a bruising campaign. "Either we stay on the path that Washington has for us, or we take that right turn and start moving in the right direction." Ernst and others have been joined on the campaign trail by Republican figureheads such as Senator John McCain and 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who has criss-crossed the nation lending candidates his star power. Democrats have tapped their political superstars as well, notably former president Bill Clinton, probable future White House candidate Hillary Clinton and first lady Michelle Obama. But the political landscape is tilting away from Democrats, with forecast models showing Republicans with good odds of winning the Senate. "Within the last week to 10 days, we started to pick up some of the thunderstorms developing," Republican pollster Whit Ayres said. "We're starting to see the hints now of a building Republican wave." All 435 seats in the House of Representatives are up for grabs, but with Republicans expected to maintain control there, eyes are on the Senate races, especially 10 key battleground states. With his approval rating at just 43 per cent - and lower in states with at-risk Democrat incumbents - Obama has largely avoided the campaign trail, opting instead to raise millions for Democratic candidates in closed-door fundraisers. However he did make a rare campaign appearance with a Democratic Senate candidate on Saturday evening. The president headlined a rally that drew about 6,000 people on the campus of Detroit's Wayne State University for Senate candidate Gary Peters and Mark Schauer, the party's nominee for governor. "When you step into that voting booth, you are making a choice not just about candidates or parties. You're making a choice about two different visions of what America is about," Obama told the crowd. He also warned of low Democratic turnout during the midterms, as in 2010, when Republicans romped to victory. The Republicans have repeated their mantra - "a vote for the Democrats is a vote for Barack Obama" - as they have sought to make the mid-term election a referendum on the president. Policies such as "Obamacare", cuts in carbon emissions and legalising thousands of undocumented immigrant youths are unpopular with the voters who will decide the key races. "The president's not relevant. He's gone in two years," Senate Democrat Mark Begich of Alaska, where the race is a toss-up, said. In his weekly radio address, Obama reminded Americans of a host of recent successes, including his stewardship of the US economy, now growing at the fastest rate since 2003. But even as the New York stock exchange closed on Friday at a record high, Republicans hammered home their message that Obama has let the economic recovery slip away. "Six years on, their policies haven't gotten the country moving again," top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell countered in his radio address. Key issues in the United States mid-term elections The biggest prize in tomorrow's elections is control of the Senate. A look at some of the issues that may play a role in deciding key races: The economy and jobs Fewer Americans say the nation is facing problems than at any point since 2007, but the economy and jobs remain voters' top concern, including 37 per cent of voters in a Washington Post-ABC News poll last month. Health care After a troubled health insurance exchange launch a year ago, Republicans hoped to make repealing the Affordable Care Act a central campaign issue as it was in 2010. But the law's successful enrolment of eight million people beat expectations and neutralised attacks on the law. Immigration The arrival of tens of thousands of minors across the US-Mexico border sparked a sharp rise in immigration concerns and put Obama and Democrats on the defensive. The issue has faded ahead of election day, with only 8 per cent of voters saying it will be their most important issue. Ebola, international conflicts Obama has received negative ratings for handling a series of international crises from Ebola in West Africa to the rise of Islamic State in Iraq. The Washington Post

Republicans set to grab control of Congress in US mid-term elections

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Democrats face daunting task to hold ground in mid-terms as dissatisfaction with Obama grows

Democrats face daunting task to hold ground in mid-terms as dissatisfaction with Obama grows