ADAM FRACASSI managing editor It was a rough night for Democrats as they watched their once staggering major ity dwindle away. Election night saw long Winner of the 1009 - 2010 Most Creative Program Award SCHOOL PAGES OF THE BEHREND BEACON time Senators like Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) get voted out of office. Even seats that have been held for years by Democrats went to republicans. In Il linois, the Republican Mark House of Representatives ADAM FRACASSI managing editor It started off in a major ity that saw 256 Democrats and 179 Republicans, until Tuesday. Now the house of representatives has changed majorities. The midterms saw an es timated 63 Republican gains in the House bringing their new total to an estimated 243 seats. This leaves the Demo crats with an estimated 192 seats - a virtual trade on both sides. The presumed speaker, John Boehner (R-OH) imme diately went on t.v. to speak about taking the House back. During the speech, Boehner got very emotional for finally reaching what he called one of his life goals. Directly under the Speaker of the House, is House Ma jority Leader, which is as sumed to be Eric Cantor (R- The year of the crazy candidates ADAM FRACASSI managing editor From candidates who "dabbled in witchcraft," to those who believe in an "Aqua Buddha," the 2010 elections had a wide varitey of candi dates run for office. Candidates from states like Delaware, Kentucky, and Nevada, had republican chal lengers present new views. Christine O'Donnell of Delaware, was criticized for once, "dabbling in witchcraft" causing much controversy. O'Donnell was never the favorite, even through the pri mary election where she beat out longtime moderate repub lican Mike Castle. Kirk was elected to fill the vacated Senate seat of Presi dent Obama. While Democrats strug gled in the Senate, they still managed to hold on to a ma jority. This was not the case in the house where Demo- VA). Cantor currently is the House Minority Whip and announced intentions of run ning for Majority Leader. The current Speaker, Nan cy Pelosi (D-CA) announced this week that she intends to run for Minority Leader. This was against the advice of sev eral of her colleagues that suggested she was too "lib eral." This isn't the first time that Pelosi has been attacked for being too liberal. Many of the 63 democratic seats that were lost saw campaing commer cials that compared the rep resentative to Pelosi. The House elections made history this year electing the two first Republican African American representatives from the deep south since 1898. 2010 also saw the election of Sean Duffy, from MTV's Real World Boston be elected in Wisconsin. With her primary win, it was known that the Senate seat previously held by Vice President Joe Biden, would go to the democrat Chris Coons. O'Donnell lost by almost 20 percent in the election. In Kentucky, Democratic Attorney General Jack Con way battled local Optomolo gist, Rand Paul in a very close race. Before the election, polls showed Paul with a slight lead over Conway. But the biggest controversy came from a de bate between the two. It was said that while in college, Paul allegedly held a girl down and forced her to acknowledge the "Aqua Bud dha." Paul won election by 10 crats lost the most number of seats in 70 years. Last Tuesday's election saw the biggest party turn over since 1938, losing 63 House seats to the Republi cans. The last time the Presi dent's party did this badly in a points Conway brought this up in a debate, which angered Paul and led to the two not shaking hands after. Then there was Shar ron Angle in Nevada going against the Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Through the months lead ing to the election, Angle constantly refused to talk to the press. Angle then came underfire when she said that teenage rape victims shoud, "make lemonade out of a lem on situation." Angle lost the election by 6 points. Based off of the variety of candidates in this election, a lot is left to imagine for 2012. midterm election was in 1938 under President Franklin Roosevelt. With a new party set to take control of the House in January, new leaders need to be chosen. House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) ( T), At the highest point in the year it was 60 Senators. Now, the democratic majority in the Senate has dwindled down to 53. During Tuesday's elec tions, the republicans picked up an additional six senate seates. With these republican gains, the estimated totals are now 53 - 47. Leadership in the Senate is expected to stay the same, but it is still unsure whether or not Harry Reid will continue to lead the democrats. Majority Leader Reid is somewhat unpopular with liberal democrats in the Sen ate for not taking a firmer stance with republicans on important bills like climate change, financial reform, and health care. Several races across the country were very close in- H&SS is expected to be nominated to Speaker of the House, with Eric Cantor (R-VA) running for Majority Leader. Against the advice her col legues, former Speaker Nan cy Pelosi announced that she would run for minority leader. Senate cluding, PA's Sestak vs. Toomey which saw the elec tion of Pat Toomey to the Sen ate. ADAM FRACASSI While this is arguably one of the closest elections across the country, it is also a histroy making one. In the primaries Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski lost nomination to run against Sarah Palin backed tea-par tyist Joe Miller. Murkowski then announced that she would run as a write in Can didate for Alaska. Her decision caused con troversy among the repub lican party, but Murkowski pressed forward. She became the first per son in over 50 years to win a write in candidacy to election, since Strom Thurmond won back in the 1950'5. Murkowski was one of the lucky Senators that was able to fight off a tea party candi date to win relection.
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