The Democrats have returned to power in Washington as George W Bush rues the cost of his blunders in Iraq, reports Ezzat Ibrahim from Washington Endemic corruption and the Iraqi quagmire dominated the American congressional elections on Tuesday in which the Democrats regained control of the House of Representatives, and, at the time of writing, left the Senate evenly split, claiming some notable Republican scalps in the process. The effects of the elections, however, should not be overstated as Democrats have no unified stance on matters such as the war in Iraq, except to bluntly oppose United States President George W Bush's Iraq policy. They seem in many cases to have merely benefited from voter dissatisfaction with the incumbent administration, rather than wowed the electorate with their own message. The newly-powerful House Democrats pledged a vigorous agenda for their first days in office. On Iraq, as the Democrats can now appoint House Committee chairs, they may subpoena sensitive information regarding the American invasion of Iraq. Difficult questions may be asked of Bush in the weeks ahead. The Democrats have also promised fresh efforts to oust the embattled US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. The first Muslim elected to Congress and the first non-white to be elected from Minnesota was Keith Ellison, an African American who converted to Islam at college. Ellison concentrated on social and foreign policy issues rather than his race and religion. He called for an immediate withdrawal from Iraq and favours gay rights and legal abortion. Ellison won a seat for the fifth district of Minneapolis, a predominantly white and liberal area. Ellison was even endorsed by the Jewish community who favoured him over his Republican rival Alan Fine -- himself a Jew. It was the person elected more than the result that was of note, as more than 70 per cent of the voters of the district voted for John Kerry in 2004. Among the worst losers in Tuesday's elections were Republican Senators Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, and Mike DeWine of Ohio. Among the rising stars are the African-American Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, who campaigned for many other candidates and is being spoken of in hushed tones as a possible presidential challenger for 2008. The most important female political figure in Washington is now Representative Nancy Pelosi, who will become the next and first ever female Speaker of the House of Representatives -- the third most important political post in Washington, behind the president as his deputy. She is known as a pragmatic and centrist Democrat with a seat in San Francisco, another liberal stronghold. On domestic issues Pelosi has committed Democrats to raising the minimum wage, adopting the 9/11 Commission's anti- terrorism agenda and seeking to reduce medical costs in the US. Observers suspect that some important liberal figures will be put in charge of House committees due to their seniority, ironically putting them at odds with Pelosi and other centrist Democrats who have spoken of pursuing a more bipartisan agenda. The result will not see a sea change in American politics; the Democrats can harass and harry the Republican administration, but the Bush administration will still be able to pursue its own agenda. But it does show the re-emergence of two-party politics in the US after years of Republican hegemony.
