The Republican party made big gains in yesterdays midterm elections.
They gained control of the lower house by winning 57 seats. They failed to win the senate, but they did reduced the Democratic majority.
The trick for the Republicans now is for them to turn their new power into change without letting President Obama come back from his record levels of unpopularity and gain reelection in 2012. The Republicans need a presidential candidate with enough star power to take on Obama and challenge his big government record. That is more important than using their new found control of Congress to turn all Republican ideas into policy.
This is a great result for the Republicans and for the Tea Party movement.
No doubt the same people who criticised David Cameron for not winning a majority will be saying that the UK needs its own Tea Party movement.
However, lets put the election into context:
- The Republicans gained 57 seats out of 422 (to date - there are more results to come). That is 13.5% of the lower house seats
- David Cameron's Conservative party gained 97 seats out of 650 in May 2010, or 15% of the available seats
So, David Cameron won a bigger swing in the UK general election than the Republicans did in their historic midterm elections.
