Republicans made their closing argument on Sunday for capturing control of Congress, assailing President Barack Obama as a champion of wasteful and excessive government, as Democrats countered that returning power to Republicans would embolden corporations and the wealthy with disastrous results for middle-class Americans.
Mr. Obama and Vice-President Joe Biden converged on Ohio in hopes of rekindling the passion Democrats displayed two years ago in sending the pair to the White House.
“In two days, you have a chance to once again say, ‘Yes, we can',” said Mr. Obama at a rally in Cleveland, reprising the theme of his 2008 campaign. “There is no doubt that this is a difficult election.”
But Representative John A. Boehner, who is poised to become Speaker if Republicans win the House, offered a rebuttal as he crisscrossed the state, warning voters not to be taken in by familiar promises of changing Washington.
“Washington hasn't been listening to the American people; I think it's been disrespecting the American people,” said Mr. Boehner, firing up Republicans in Columbus. He flashed a sign of confidence, saying: “We're going to have a big night on Tuesday night a really big night.”
Republicans are positioned to reach or surpass the number of House seats they picked up in 1994, according to strategists and independent analysts, when the party gained 54 and ended four decades of Democratic dominance in the House.
The ranks of vulnerable Democrats deepened, with House seats in Connecticut, Maine and Rhode Island becoming susceptible to a potential Republican wave that could exceed the 39 seats needed to win control. Democrats clung to hope that they could hold on to the Senate by at least a seat or two.
As the White House prepared for widespread losses on Tuesday, it sought to minimise the political damage to the party and to Mr. Obama's re-election chances in two years by urging its supporters to work even harder to help narrow the gap in tight races.
The former President, Bill Clinton, began a nine-state sweep to help preserve the Democratic majority, rallying voters along the Eastern Seaboard from Maine to Florida. The focus on Democratic-leaning states, including congressional races in New York and Connecticut, along with Governors' races in Maine and New Hampshire, underscored the degree to which Democrats are almost entirely on the defence against Republicans at a time when the unemployment rate remains stubbornly high and the nation is deeply divided over issues like health care.
The most expensive congressional contest in the country's history, with a price tag of nearly $4 billion, drew to a close with a presidential-style deployment of campaign volunteers from Alaska to Florida intended to get-out-the-vote, even though more than half of Americans participating in the election have already cast early ballots.
Few states were spared a last barrage of television advertisements, many of which featured Republicans trying to capitalise on the suggestion of change.
Democrats were bracing for substantial losses across the ballot, from state legislative races to governorships to Congress, with incumbents imploring voters to give them more time to create jobs, improve the economy and control state and federal spending. It remained an open question whether the party's extensive get-out-the-vote operation could diminish what party leaders fear could be widespread defeats. — New York Times News Service
