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Showdown
'94 at the ballot box
Republicans
favored in
tight races
The Baltimore Sun
WASHINGTON - An election
that could profoundly change the bal-
ance of U.S. politics reaches polling
booths today after the most expensive
- and one of the meanest- midterm
campaigns on record.
Odds favor a Republican takeovr
4 the Senate, according to politicians
both parties, and a Republican take-
over of the House appears within reach
too. Republicans have a good chance,
as well, to gain a majority of state
governorships for the first time since
1970.
The GOP controlled the Senate in
the 1980s but there has not been a
Republican majority in the House
during the lifetime of most Ameri-
*ns. The last was in 1954, in Presi-
dent Eisenhower's first term.
At least 130 House races could
still go either way, analysts say, but
recent national polls show a strong
tide of Republican support. When
voters are asked which party they
favor in their congressional district,
more answer Republican than Demo-
crat, the first time that has happened
40 years.
Democratic control of the House
"is gone, or near gone," predicts poll-
ster Alan Secrest, who has advised
Democratic candidates in more than
30 congressional districts this year.
He said he would be surprised if Re-
publicans gain fewer than 35 seats; a
40-seat pickup would give Republi-
cans the majority in the House.
Odds that Republicans will take
*er the House are improving and are
now at least 40 percent, says Charles
Cook, a former Democratic campaign
official who publishes an indepen-
dent political newsletter.
"My gut tells me that they're prob-
ably going to get there," said Cook,
who rates 59 contests fo Democratic-
held seats as toss-ups, vs. 14 for Re-
publican-held seats.
Another independent analyst,
fuart Rothenberg, predicts a Repub-
lican gain of between 35 and 40 seats
and says that control of the House is
now "too close to call."
Both men predict that Republi-
cans will win the seven Senate seats
they need to gain control of that body.
Yesterday, Democrats from Presi-
dent Clinton on down were waging a
f nal desperate effort to hold back the
publican wave.
Their itineraries, and those of lead-
ing Republicans such as Senate Mi-
nority Leader Bob Dole, provided the
best clues to the states that hold the
keys to the election results: Michi-
See GOP, Page 2
Clinton stumps
on Flint campus
By MICHELLE LEE THOMPSON
Daily Staff Reporter
FLINT - Working to sway the
outcome of a race that may hold the
key to the balance of power in Con-
gress, President Clinton stopped at
the University's Flint campus yester-
day to campaign for U.S. Senate can-
didate Bob Carr and other Demo-
cratic candidates.
Clinton, who spoke for about five
minutes, emphasized the importance
of the open seat, vacated by 18-year
veteran Democrat Donald Riegle.
With many tight races nationwide,
the Michigan election could deter-
mine the Senate's majority.
Carr said that a majority leader
must be elected by Democrats to carry
out the party's promises.
"Mr. President, you're doing what
you said you'd do," Carr said before
Clinton took the podium.
"While (Republicans) have talked,
we have acted," Clinton said.
Clinton heralded the actions of
congressional and local Democrats
over the last two years, asserting they
have voted to improve education and
family values while cutting taxes and
the unemployment rate.
"We still have a lot of problems in
this country, but we're a lot better off
than 21 months ago," Clinton said.
Clinton's get-out-the-vote visit -
on the day before the election -
might prove significant for Carr's
campaign.
Owen Bieber, national UAW
president, said, "It's down to the wire
and there are three things that will
determine who wins and who loses -
turnout, turnout, turnout."
Gubernatorial candidate Howard
Wolpe said he thought Clinton's ap-
pearance would increase turnout and
See CLINTON, Page 7
'U' students
appalled by
mudslinging,
By SCOT WOODS
Daily Staff Reporter
After casting their votes today,
University students will go home
and shower off the mud,
An unscientific survey con-
ducted by the Daily showed that
regardless of candidate prefer-
ences or interest in the election,
students are appalled by the level
of negative campaigning this year.
Also, University students
would elect virtually every Demo-
cratic candidate on the ballot.
Eighty-two people responded to
the Daily's survey, which was con-
ducted yesterday afternoon in and
around the Fishbowl: The survey
asked respondents four questions.
If our poll were the official
election, Howard Wolpe would
unseat Gov. John Engler in a
shocker, 55 percent to 26 percent.
The U.S. Senate race would be
closer, but U.S. Rep. Bob Carr (D-
East Lansing) would win with 46
percent of the vote, to Republican
Spence Abraham's 27 percent. A
third-party dark horse, Libertar-
ian Jon Coon, would ride in with
10 percent of the vote.
In the 13th Congressional Dis-
trict, Democrat Lynn Rivers would
walk all over Republican John
Schall, Democrat Alma Wheeler
Smith would trounce Republican
Joe Mikulec, and Democrats
would also win the state House
See VOTERS, Page 7
President Clinton waves on Democratic supporters while campaigning for Bob Carr yesterday in Flint.
~'Ustudents ignord at visit
By MICHELLE LEE THOMPSON
Daily Staff Reporter
FLINT - It was only six days ago
that President Clinton last came to
Michigan to stump for state Demo-
cratic candidates. Last week, it was
the University's Dearborn campus
where he campaigned and met with
University President James J. Duder-
stadt. Yesterday, with Hillary Rodham
Clinton at his side, the president ral-
lied on the University's Flint campus
on the eve of Election Day._
The president did not visit the
University's main campus in Ann
Arbor, as his stops had little to do with
rallying for the student vote so much
as getting out the votes of union mem-
bers and other special-interest groups.
Although about 500 students at-
tended yesterday's rally at Flint's
Recreation Center, many were left
standing out in the cold, as the gym
quickly filled with UAW members,
longtime Democrat supporters and
teen-aged guests.
. Students were not notified of
Clinton's visit until Sunday night so
many were unable to rearrange class
schedules.
"It's a double-edged sword," said
Chris Gordon, a sophomore at the
University's Flint campus. "It is a
good thing for our community, but I
know a lot of students being hindered
from coming because they had exams
or couldn't find a place to park. It
could have been more planned out."
Gordon and fraternity members
volunteered at the event, helping Se-
cret Service agents manage the crowd.
See STUDENTS, Page 7
NewsAnalysis
104th Congress will be gnlocked, more partisan
By DAVID SHEPARDSON
Daily News Editor
As one of the bitterest and most
negative midterm campaigns in re-
cent memory gives way to Election
Day, voters are disillusioned by can-
didates preaching legerdemain invec-
tives and issueless electronic clap-
trap.
Heading to the voting booth to-
day, voters expect little from all the
king's horses and all the king's men.
Some are running to put Congress
back together again, while others look
to smash it to pieces.
While Republicans are trying to
make the election a referendum on
President Clinton and Democrats seek
to scare voters into believing the GOP
will return to Reaganomics and cut
their Social Security checks, one thing
is clear hours before the polls close -
the next Congress will be deadlocked.
Set against a poisoned environ-
ment filled with the weight of unde-
liverable promises, action on major
policies - like health care, welfare,
lobbying and campaign reform -
will stammer while interest-group
politics may prove the death-knell of
reform.
With Republicans looking to take
control of the U.S. Senate and effec-
tive - if not numerical - control of
the U.S. House, the fractious political
polemics of the 103rd Congress will
likely pale in comparison to the can-
tankerous caterwauling and outright
gridlock in the 104th Congress.
"What this adds up to is a highly
polarized Congress that engages in a
great deal of posturing and trench
raids and unconventional warfare,"
said Ross K. Baker, a Rutgers Uni-
versity political scientist who spe-
cializes in the relationship between
the White House and Congress.
A cynical electorate, fed up by
entrenched congressional incumbents
and Democrats in general, are look-
ing to throw 'da bums - the political
class - out. In its place, a cacophony
of inexperienced vacuous empty suits
is spending money hand over fist to
convince voters of the very incompe-
tence of the body they seek to serve
in.
In Tennessee, Bill Frist, a heart
and lung surgeon who has never held
political office and did not register to
vote until 1988, seeks to replace Sen.
Jim Sasser, who is vying to lead the
Senate Democrats. In California, U.S.
Rep. Michael Huffington, who essen-
tially purchased a House seat in 1992,
has spent more than $30 million on a
barrage of negative ads. And in Vir-
ginia, convicted liar Oliver North is
running in a tug-of-mud war with
See ANALYSIS, Page 7
Rev. Jackson
urges on Black
voters in Detroit
DETROIT (AP) - Failing to vote is like entering into
a form of voluntary slavery, the Rev. Jesse Jackson told an
tction-eve rally at a church yesterday.
Later, President Clinton joined Democrats Bob Carr
and Howard Wolpe for a rally at the University's Flint
campus, while Gov. John Engler joined fellow Republi-
can Spence Abraham on a sweep from west to east.
The last-minute campaigning came amid poll results
showing Engler far ahead of Wolpe in the governor's race
and Abraham leading Carr in the Senate race.
Many people are turned off by mean-spirited negative
campaigning this year, Jackson told about 100 people at
a breakfast meeting at Christ Cornerstone Missionary
aptist Church on Detroit's east side.
"The response should not be get drunk and hide. It
should be get sober and fight," he said.
The 1994 election is the nation's most important since
Lyndon Johnson and Barry Goldwater fought for the
presidency in 1964, Jackson said.
"Thirty years of progress is being weighed in the
Many Americans disgruntled with
Dems, GOP; turn to Libertarians
By MAUREEN SIRHAL
Daily Staff Reporter
Land of the free, and freedom they want.
The Libertarian Party has gained momen-
tum during the last year as voters have grown
disenchanted with the two major political par-
ties.
"People are tired of government encroach-
ing on their personal lives. They're tired of both
major parties increasing," said Joann Karpinski,
chair of the Wayne County Libertarian Party.
The United States has traditionally main-
tained a two-party system. Although it has seen
the birth of many third and fourth parties, the
power to these parties often fades or loses its
membership.
However, with the current disillusionment
of constituents, the Libertarian Party has found
an increase in its membership.
"It's a whole new grass-roots image,"
Karpinski said. "There really is a strong support
base."
Karpinski is working for U.S. Senate candi-
date Jon Coon. If Coon receives 5 percent of the
vote, cast in the secretary of state's race, the
Libertarian party will be eligible to hold pri-
mary elections, thus attaining major-party sta-
tus.
Polls going into today's election show Coon
should be able to do that. They indicate him
getting 5 to 7 percent of the vote in that five-way
See LIBERTARIANS, Page 2
LSA committee to
draft integrity pledge
By LISA DINES
Daily Staff Reporter
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