US candidates in final vote push

Mr Obama has sought to blame US economic woes on the previous, Republican, administration

Campaigning for the US Congressional mid-term elections has entered its final day ahead of voting on Tuesday.

Opinion polls suggest the Democratic Party will lose its majority in the House of Representatives and struggle to keep its grip on the Senate.

In a marked change from the 2008 campaign, there were thousands of empty seats at President Barack Obama’s final rally in Cleveland on Sunday.

Republicans are seeking to capitalise on anger over the economic downturn.

Up for grabs on Tuesday are all 435 House seats, 37 of the 100 Senate seats and the governships of 37 of the 50 states.

The Republican Party needs to gain 39 House seats to win control of the lower chamber of Congress – an amount opinion polls suggest they will easily win – and 10 to take over the Senate.

Democrats are hoping to hold on to the Senate by at least one or two seats.

Wrapping up a final blizzard of rallies and speeches, Mr Obama campaigned in the key battleground state of Ohio.

Speaking in Cleveland, he repeated the theme from his 2008 presidential campaign.

“In two days, you have a chance to once again say: ‘Yes, we can’.”

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He urged his supporters to get the vote out and sought to place the blame for the country’s economic woes on the policies of his predecessor, Republican President George W Bush.

“This election is a choice between the policies that got us into this mess and the policies that are leading us out of this mess,” he told about 8,000 people at an arena that was several thousand people short of capacity.

It was a contrast to the 2008 election when across the country people were turned away from his appearances.

The Democrats face losing up to six House seats, one Senate race and the governorship in Ohio.

Republicans are riding high in opinion polls, buoyed by discontent over unemployment running near 10%, slow economic growth and a burst housing market bubble that has seen many Americans lose their homes.

The party has also gained from the backing of the ultra-conservative Tea Party movement, which has become a lightning rod for discontent over expensive government programmes such as the economic stimulus and Mr Obama’s health care overhaul.

Tea Party favourite Sarah Palin, the Republican vice-presidential candidate in 2008 and a former governor of Alaska, said in a TV appearance on Sunday that Tuesday’s vote would be a “political earthquake”.

She said voters would tell the president and the Democrats: “You blew it, President Obama. We gave you the two years to fulfil your promise of making sure that our economy starts roaring back to life again.”

Ms Palin is not running for any office but has hinted at a 2012 run for the presidency.

Republican House leader John Boehner, who stands to replace Democrat Nancy Pelosi as the House Speaker if the polls bear out, acknowledged the economic problems did not start under President Obama.

“But instead of fixing them, his policies have made them worse,” he said campaigning in Ohio.

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