CAMPAIGN CATCH-UP
The mid-terms election campaign enters its final full week with Democrats holding an edge in opinion polls over President George W Bush’s Republicans.
The president himself is spending much of the week on the campaign trail, stopping in Georgia and Texas on Monday, returning to Georgia on Tuesday.
In Georgia, he fired up a conservative crowd by attacking last week’s New Jersey court ruling on gay marriage. He decried “activist” courts that “raised doubts about the institution of marriage”.
The reference won him a long ovation at Georgia Southern University, but it came as a Newsweek poll suggested Americans were satisfied with the political leanings of their courts.
Both parties agreed on Sunday that the war in Iraq was a leading - if not central - issue in the contest. Republicans are trying to turn the campaign spotlight away from the increasingly unpopular war, while the Democrats will continue to tap into voter unhappiness on the issue.
KEY QUOTES
This election more and more is becoming a referendum on George Bush, his failed policies both overseas and here at home, and the rubberstamp Congress.
Democratic Senator for New York, Charles Schumer, speaking after national polls showed wide support for his Democrats.
This is the most challenging environment for Republicans since the Watergate year of 1974.
Republican political consultant Whit Ayres, referring to the loss of 48 House seats after the resignation of disgraced Republican President Richard Nixon.