President Barack Obama's Democratic allies will defy glum forecasts of a rout in November elections and keep control of the House and Senate, one of the party's congressional leaders said Thursday.
"Reports of our demise have been greatly exaggerated," House Democratic Caucus Chairman John Larson told reporters on a conference call, referring to near across-the-board predictions that the party will suffer heavy losses.
"Let me be very clear about it: We are going to hold the House of Representatives and we are going to hold the United States Senate and we're going to do it each district one at a time," said Larson.
The lawmaker, who represents a district in Connecticut, said opinion polls showing Republicans poised for big gains as the sour US economy struggles with stubbornly high unemployment reflect that "times are difficult."
"The polls are reflective of people's frustration," said Larson, who acknowledged that "from 40,000 feet (up) you could argue that things perhaps don't look as bright as we would like."
But while national surveys may bring grim tidings for Democrats, Larson vowed that the party would "individualize campaigns" and fight "race by race, across the nation."
He spoke days after a new opinion poll showed Republicans have an unprecedented 10-point edge among registered voters nationwide, their widest advantage in the Gallup polling organization's six-decade history of mid-term election surveys.
Historically, a sitting US president's party loses seats in midterm elections in his first term -- and even the White House has joined a chorus of observers warning Democrats may lose control of the House of Representatives.
With all 435 House seats and 37 of the 100 Senate spots up for grabs, as well as state legislatures and key governorships, what's at stake is nothing less than the future of Obama's agenda.
National polls, though often good predictors of general electoral trends, are not perfect predictors of US elections, which are held district by district and state by state.
Copyright 2010 AFP American Edition
