Democrats weighed down by Obama's low approval ratings kept their distance from him and looked to a costly get-out-the-vote operation in the most competitive Senate races to save their seats and their majority. They were working furiously to reach out to minority, women and young voters who tend to sit-out elections when the presidency is not at stake. Those voters tend to back Democrats.

About 10 Senate races have drawn most of the attention, but Democrats were at a disadvantage because these were either in Republican-leaning states carried by Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential election or evenly divided swing states. In these competitive states, astronomical spending and uncountable attack ads have dominated campaigning — with few ideas offered on how best to govern the nation. Serious discussions about trade and energy policies, deficit spending, climate change, immigration and other knotty issues rarely emerged.

“The president's policies have just flat-out failed,” House Speaker John Boehner said Monday, campaigning for a 13th term in Congress and hoping for two more years as the top House leader. He and other Republicans vowed to change Obama's policies, but have offered little in the way of specifics.

The president's party traditionally loses seats in a midterm election. Obama and the Democrats face an electorate that remains deeply concerned about the direction of the economy, though it has shown signs of improvement. Terrorism has re-emerged as a top issue, as well as the threat posed by the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria, and polls showed Republicans have an edge on handling both issues. And Obama's administration has faced questions about its competency, from Secret Service scandals to the bungled roll-out of the president's health care program, known as Obamacare.

Democrats didn't so much defend the president as insist they were independent of him.

Polls suggested that races for Democratic-held seats in Iowa, Colorado and Alaska have tilted for Republicans — although Democrats said their get-out-the-vote operation made any predictions unreliable.Republicans were all but assured of winning Democratic-held seats in West Virginia, Montana and South Dakota, and Democrats held out little hope that Sen. Mark Pryor could win re-election in Arkansas.

Democratic incumbents also faced competitive races in New Hampshire and in North Carolina where Democrats said they had an edge — and Republicans disagreed.

Strategists in both parties said candidates in Louisiana and Georgia were unlikely to reach the 50-percent threshold needed to avoid a runoff. The wildest wild card of all was in Kansas, where polls said 78-year-old Republican Sen. Pat Roberts was in a close race with independent Greg Orman in a state that has only sent Republicans to the Senate for nearly 80 years.

Democrats had hoped to pick up the Kentucky seat held by Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, but recent polls showed him building a lead over Democratic challenger Alison Lundergan Grimes. McConnell would be in line to control the Senate's agenda as majority leader if Republicans win Tuesday.

That left Georgia as the Democrats' best opportunity to pick up a Republican seat, with Democrat Michelle Nunn, whose father served four six-year terms in the Senate, facing Republican businessman David Perdue.

Also on the ballot were governor's races in 36 states, and an unusual number of incumbents from both parties appeared to be struggling.

Among the most closely watched is Wisconsin, where Republican Gov. Scott Walker is in a bitter and tight race with Democratic challenger Mary Burke. Walker, a favorite of conservative Republicans, is often mentioned as a potential candidate in 2016, but his White House chances likely would evaporate if he loses Tuesday.

In another hard-fought race, Florida Republican Gov. Rick Scott is facing a tough challenge from Charlie Crist, a former Republican governor-turned-Democrat.

Early voting topped 18 million ballots in 32 states, and both parties seized on the number as evidence of their own strength.

在中期選舉為國會參議院大獎

由史蒂芬R.赫斯特，美聯社
2014年11月5日，上午12:01 TWN

華盛頓 - 美國投週二在已轉換為對總統奧巴馬公投中期選舉，這是所有的，但一定給反對黨共和黨國會兩院的控制權。

現在的問題是華盛頓的立法癱瘓是否會加深，如果總統的民主黨失去多數的參議院。

全線投票給共和黨以及翻轉了至少六名現任民主黨參議員或捕獲由民主黨退休留下的空缺席位的50％的機會。三十六個參議院席位是在選票上。

有關於比賽的全部435個席位的眾議院，超越了新共和黨多數的大小基本沒有懸念。13個座位的收益將使共和黨的最大的代表，因為它在1946年民主黨著力維護任職人員站在246。

民主黨人拖累奧巴馬的低支持率一直向他自己的距離，看著昂貴的get-出的票在操作上最有競爭力的參議員競選，以挽救他們的座位和他們的居多。他們正在竭力將接觸到少數人，誰往往坐出時，選舉總統是不是受到威脅的婦女和年輕選民。這些選民傾向於回民主黨。

關於參議院10場比賽已經引起大部分的注意力，但民主黨人都處於劣勢，因為這些要么由羅姆尼在2012年總統選舉共和黨進行傾斜的狀態或平分秋色搖擺州。在這些競爭激烈的狀態，天文開支和無數的攻擊廣告已經佔據競選 - 以就如何最好地管理國家的一些想法。關於貿易和能源政策，赤字開支，氣候變化，移民和其他棘手的問題進行認真的討論很少出現。

“總統的政策剛剛平了失敗，”眾議院議長約翰·博納週一表示，競選第13項大會，希望多兩年的頂級眾議院領袖。他和其他共和黨人誓言要改變奧巴馬的政策，但在具體的方式提供什麼。

總統的政黨失去了傳統的在中期選舉中的席位。奧巴馬和民主黨面對的仍然深切關心經濟的方向，雖然它已經顯示出改善的跡象選民。恐怖主義已重新成為一個首要問題，以及由伊斯蘭國集團在伊拉克和敘利亞的威脅，而民調顯示，共和黨對處理這兩個問題的優勢。而奧巴馬政府也面臨著關於它的競爭力的問題，從特勤局醜聞的貽誤轉出總統的醫療保健計劃，被稱為奧巴馬醫改的。

共和黨人幾乎確定贏得西弗吉尼亞州，蒙大拿州和南達科他州民主黨的議席，而民主黨抱什麼希望，參議員馬克·普賴爾能贏得連任阿肯色州。

民意調查表明，比賽的民主黨席位在愛荷華州，科羅拉多州和阿拉斯加州都傾斜了共和黨人 - 儘管民主黨人說，他們的get-出了票的操作做出任何預測不可靠的。

現任民主黨也面臨在新罕布什爾州和北卡羅萊納州有競爭力的比賽，其中民主黨人說，他們有一個優勢 - 和共和黨人不同意。

在雙方策略師表示，考生在路易斯安那州和佐治亞州都不可能達到需要避免徑流的50％的門檻。所有的最瘋狂的外卡是在堪薩斯州，在那裡民調說，78歲的共和黨參議員帕特·羅伯茨在與獨立格雷格·奧曼的狀態下，只派共和黨參議員近80年緊密的賽程。

民主黨人原本希望拾獲參議院共和黨領袖麥康奈爾舉行的肯塔基州議席，但最近的民意調查顯示，他建立一個領先民主黨挑戰者艾莉森Lundergan Grimes的。麥康奈爾將符合控制參議院的議程多數黨領袖，如果共和黨贏得週二。

這讓格魯吉亞拿起共和黨席位，民主黨與米歇爾·納恩，他的父親曾4 6年的期限在參議院，共和黨面臨的商人戴維·珀杜民主黨的最佳機會。

另外在選票是州長的比賽中36個州，以及雙方的在職人員不尋常的數量似乎在掙扎。

其中最受關注的是威斯康星州，那裡的共和黨州長斯科特·沃克是一個痛苦和緊張的比賽與民主黨挑戰者瑪麗·伯克。沃克，保守的共和黨人的最愛，往往是在2016年提到作為一個潛在的候選人，但他在白宮的機會，如果他輸了週二可能會揮發。

在另一個惡戰的比賽，佛羅里達州共和黨州長里克·斯科特正面臨著來自查理克里斯特，前共和黨州長出身的民主黨一個嚴峻的挑戰。

提前投票突破1800萬張選票中的32個州，雙方查獲的數量作為自己的實力證明。