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Today, 22 November 2009

Yesterday, 21 November 2009

› SACP attacks Malema

› Match-fixing stuns Europe

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› Henry offers replay

› No armchair ride for Boks

President George W. Bush's Republican Party retained control of Congress and was poised to strengthen its grip on the two chambers when all the ballots are counted from Tuesday's congressional elections.

Republicans enjoyed a 51-to-48 seat edge over the Democrats in the US Senate going into Tuesday's election and could increase their advantage to as many as 55 seats, turning back several close, but ultimately inadequate, Democratic challenges in key states.

Congress's most closely-watched election saw Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota swept from power after a strong challenge from Republican Jim Thune, creating what will surely be disarray among congressional Democrats already smarting from Tuesday's demoralising series of defeats.

Daschle becomes the first Senate party leader to lose his seat in more than half a century.

Republicans have net gain of one Senate seat

Republican candidates have already added a net gain of one Senate seat, and were awaiting the outcome of voting in Alaska, South Dakota and Florida — where the Republican contender Mel Martinez has already claimed victory.

In the House of Representatives, Republicans were also set to increase their advantage over Democrats, exceeding by a comfortable margin the 218 seat-threshold needed to claim a majority in the 435 seat chamber.

Before Tuesday's vote, 227 House seats were held by Republicans, 205 by Democrats, two seats were vacant and one was held by a Democrat-leaning Independent. Republicans strengthened their grip on the House by at least five seats, and were likely to increase their advantage as ballots continued to be counted Wednesday.

News mostly bad for Democrats

Over all, the news was mostly bad for Democrats, who ended up narrowly losing several close battles that they had hoped might swing control of the Senate in their favour.

Republicans began the night by snatching the prized state of South Carolina, where Democratic educator Inez Tenenbaum was defeated by Republican Jim DeMint, a US House member.

The loss was one of several in which Democrats relinquished control of a southern US Senate seat. Democrats also lost in Georgia, North Carolina, Louisiana and South Carolina, and appeared likely to narrowly lose Florida's Senate seat as well.

In Oklahoma, Republican Tom Coburn defeated Democrat Brad Carson, and in Kentucky, Republican incumbent Jim Bunning eked out a narrow victory over Democrat Daniel Mongiardo.

Upset outright Louisiana win

In Louisiana, Republican David Vitter scored an upset outright victory on Tuesday, winning 51 percent of the vote — exceeding the 50 percent threshold necessary to avoid a runoff election in that state.

In North Carolina, the seat vacated by vice presidential candidate John Edwards was also narrowly won by a Republican, as Richard Burr narrowly defeated Democrat Erskine Bowles.

In Alaska, Republican incumbent Lisa Murkowski, who had struggled on the campaign trail, made a surprisingly strong showing against former governor Tony Knowles.

Murkowski was appointed to her seat by her father, Frank Murkowski, who named her to complete his unexpired term when he was elected Alaska's governor in 2002.

Murkowsi endured the wrath of voters because of her appointment, which was seen as a naked display of nepotism, but seemed to have recovered enough to lead Knowles in the balloting early Wednesday.

Couple of bright spots for Democrats

Democrats did find a couple of bright spots in their otherwise bleak night.

They were heartened by the strong showing from the party's rising-star Barack Obama, who became the lone African-American senator after beating ultra-conservative talk show host Alan Keyes in a landslide in Illinois.

Obama (43) soundly defeated Keyes in the contest to replace a retiring one-term Republican, garnering more than 70 percent of the vote to Keyes' 27 percent, according to figures early on Wednesday.

Democrats were also cheered by the victory of Democrat Ken Salazar, Colorado's attorney general, who has now become the state's first-ever Hispanic senator.

Salazar defeated Republican beer magnate Pete Coors, scion of the Coors brewing empire, to succeed retiring Republican Ben Nighthorse Campbell.