The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

Thursday, November 9, 2006 - 3A

NEWS BRIEFS
WASHINGTON
Hastert won't seek
minority leader
post in House
Triggering a post-elec-
tion shake-up, Dennis Hastert
announced yesterday he will not
run for leader of House Republi-
cans when Democrats take con-
trol in January.
"Obviously I wish my party had
won," the House Speaker said in a
statement that added he intends
to return to the "full-time task" of
representing his Illinois constitu-
ents.
His decision to step down from
the leadership cleared the way for
a likely succession battle among
lawmakers who face the sudden
loss of power after a dozen years
in the majority.
Rep. John Boehner of Ohio,
currently the majority leader,
is expected to run for leader,
and Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana
announced during the day he also
will seek the post. Joe Barton of
Texas has signaled he may join
the field.
Dem governors say
victories give party
edge for 2008
Jubilant Democrats saw their
victories in Tuesday's gubernato-
rial elections as a pathway to the
presidency in 2008.
"It's extremely significant,
the winning of these governors'
races, for winning in '08, for
congressional redistricting, for
shifting the power of policy from
the federal government to the
states," said New Mexico Gov.
Bill Richardson, a Democrat who
won a second term and is himself
exploring a White House run.
"It shows that Democratic
governors are viewed as budget
balancers (and) problem solvers,"
he said. "This is why so many
of them have been elected in red
states. Voters recognize that."
WASHINGTON
Dems talk of mm.
wage hike in look
ahead to January
Restored to power, congressio-
nal Democrats pledged yesterday
to press for a new course in Iraq
and move promptly to raise the
minimum wage. "We will not
disappoint" the American people,
said Rep. Nancy Pelosi, speaker-
in-waiting.
At a news conference in the Cap-
itol, Pelosi pledged that Democrats
will make the next Congress "the
most honest, ethical and open" one
in history.
She made her comments with
the extent of the Democrats' tri-
umph in Tuesday's midterm elec-
tions still unclear.
BEIT HANOUN, Gaza Strip
Hamas leader calls
for continuation of

attacks
Hamas' exiled leader yesterday
called off a cease-fire with Israel
and militants threatened to attack
Americans after 18 members of a
family, including eight children,
were killed in an Israeli artillery
barrage on a densely populated
Gaza neighborhood.
It was the highest number of
Palestinian civilians killed in a
single strike since fighting erupt-
ed six years ago, and undermined
Palestinian President Mahmoud
Abbas's attempts to form a more
moderate government and renew
a peace process with Israel.
Abbas condemned the "ter-
rible, despicable crime," and the
international community criti-
cized the deaths. Israel, promis-
ing a swift inquiry, expressed
regret for harming civilians.
- Compiled from
Daily wire reports
DID YOU K w?
MORNING AFTER PILL WILL BE
AVAILABLE OVER THE
COUNTER NEXT WEEK
By next week, Plan
B - a pill that reduces
the risk of pregnancy after
unprotected sex - will be
available to consumers in drug stores
nationwide, the Chicago Sun-Times
reported. Barr Pharmaceuticals
began shipping the drug last Friday.
Women over 18 can purchase the
pill with no questions asked, but
women under 18 must have a pre-
scription from their doctor.

Dems to take over both
houses of Congress

DISTINGUISHED GUEST

Webb's victory locks
51 seats necessary for
Senate control
WASHINGTON (AP) - Demo-
crats wrested control of the Sen-
ate from Republicans yesterday
with an upset victory in Virginia,
giving the party complete domi-
nation of Capitol Hill for the first
time since 1994.
Jim Webb's squeaker win over
incumbent Sen. George Allen gave
Democrats their sat seat in the
Senate, an astonishing turnabout
at the hands of voters unhappy
with Republican scandal and
unabated violence in Iraq. Allen
was the sixth Republican incum-
bent senator defeated in Tuesday's
elections.

The Senate had teetered at 50
Democrats, 49 Republicans for
most of yesterday, with Virginia
hanging in the balance. Webb's
victoryended Republicanhopes of
eking out a 50-50 split, with Vice
President Dick Cheney wielding
tie-breaking authority.
The Associated Press con-
tacted election officials in all 134
localities where voting occurred,
obtaining updated numbers yes-
terday.
About half the localities said
they had completed their post-
election canvassing and nearly all
had counted outstanding absen-
tees. Most were expected to be
finished by tomorrow.
The new AP count showed
Webb with 1,172,538 votes and
Allen with 1,165,302, a difference
of 7,236. Virginia has had two

statewide vote recounts in mod-
ern history, but both resulted in
vote changes of no more than a
few hundred votes.
An adviser to Allen, speak-
ing on condition of anonymity
because his boss had not formal-
ly decided to end the campaign,
said the senator wanted to wait
until most of canvassing was
completed before announcing his
decision, possibly as early as this
evening.
The adviser said that Allen was
disinclined to request a recount if
the final vote spread was similar
to that of election night.
The victory puts Sen. Harry
Reid (D-Nev.) in line to become
Senate majority leader. He has led
the Democrats since Tom Daschle
(D-S.D.) was defeated two years
ago.

Patrick Stewart, in Ann Arbor with the Royal Shakespeare Company, speaks in
English Prof. Ralph Williams' class yesterday morning.
Swing voters key to
state. De-m ---victories


TROTTER HOUSE
From page lA
I was angry, I was emotional."
He paused and scanned the
faces of the few dozen students
and activists present.
"The one thing I refuse to
do," he said, his head, hands and
voice bursting suddenly upward,
"is give in to despair."
The MESA-sponsored Post-
Election Recovery Day had just
shifted gears. Trotter House
- until then strewn with pizza
boxes, board games and the
slumped frames of a few students
- was filling with visitors eager
to participate in the night's town
hall-style gathering.
Near his seat, Acosta
embraced LSA fifth-year student
Thanthesha "Shay" Reeves, the
impromptu emcee.
"How are you?" he asked.
"As OK as I can be right now,"
she said.
Reeves invited students, clus-
tered around tables in groups
of five or six, to express their
reactions to Proposal 2 - to
dance, sing, or "just get up and
be silent."
"We need everybody," she
said. "Every. Body."
Her urgings yielded poetry,
song and sermon.
One student unleashed a set
of Dane Cook-inspired standup.
Another choked back tears as
she confessed to her election-day
apathy.
LSA senior Jillian Walker
sang Billie Holiday's "God Bless
the Child:"
As Walker fell to her knees in
the closing verse, Nelson shut his
eyes and pressed a hand against
his lips.
In an improvised speech, Law
School student Siddharth Nag
stressed the importance of coop-
university unions-
almost as good as

eration in the coming months.
"I'll put myself out now," he
said, offering to use his connec-
tions within the Law School to
advance his fellow advocates'
efforts.
He suggested a massive effort,
in which activists from across
the University would bring hun-
dreds of middle-school students
to tour the campus.
He argued that if the activists
were to develop relationships
with those students - preparing
them for standardized tests and
helping with college applications
- diversity could be achieved in
spite of Proposal 2.
"Everybody sitting in this
room knows that we have obli-
gations," said Alex Moffett, an
LSA senior and longtime cam-
pus activist who orchestrated the
Recovery Day. "This is a wakeup
call."
But many, still lurching from
the blow, felt it would take time
before they could engage in real
action.
"It hasn't really set in yet,"
Reeves said, clenching her fists
in front of her face. "I'm still
like, 'Arrr.' "
"They changed the rules of
the game," Acosta said. "We got
beaten (on Tuesday), politically
beaten. But they didn't take our
souls away."
Seated at his table, Acosta, his
slight Puerto Rican lilt amplified
by his enthusiasm, was gearing
up for another speech.
He compared racial preferenc-
es to legacy admissions, the rela-
tively uncontroversial practice of
giving preference to the children
of alumni. "We had Dan Quayle
as vice president, and he couldn't
spell 'potato'," he said. "I wonder
how he got into college."
Acosta insisted that these sys-
tems employ favoritism with less
romantic goals than affirmative

action.
"I'm a product of affirmative
action," he said.
"Me too," said Reeves, raising
her hand.
"Me three" chimed a third.
As the night wound down,
Kinesiology senior Walter Lacy
asked audience members to
shout out words that depicted
their mood.
The phrases were to act as a
foundation for his freestyle per-
formance.
"Identity," one suggested.
"Struggle," said another.
"Anger."
"Obligation."
Lacy started slowly, slipping
over a few words, pausing a few
times to collect his thoughts. He
rhymed first about his mother,
then his father, his cousin and
his brother. With each succes-
sive portrait, his tempo heated.
His flow became smoother and
his thoughts more fluid and com-
plex.
It's time for us to get together,
he began.
An obligation to overcome.
Strife.
Overcome.
Overcome.
An obligation to overcome.
Then slowly, relishing the last
three syllables: The struggle.

DETROIT (AP) - They're
called swing voters: middle-
income, well-educated subur-
banites not rooted in either party
or hung up on ideology. Win with
them, or at least break even, and
you've taken a giant step toward
winning it all.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm and
Sen. Debbie Stabenow did just
that, putting together remarkably
similar coalitions of supporters on

the way to comfortable victories
in Tuesday's election, an Associ-
ated Press exit poll showed.
"If you're a die-hard on either
side of the abortion question or gun
rights, you've already made your
choice," Lansing political consul-
tant Bill Rustem said yesterday. In
contrast, he said, swing voters are
pragmatic.
"They're looking for ideas and
solutions."

9
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[but without the nagging.]
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