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First analysis of US election outcome

Reuters does an analysis of the result of the US mid-term election - to date, with the Senate result still open but reports suggesting the Democrats will win there too:

"By taking the U.S. House of Representatives, Democrats may hasten President George W. Bush's lame-duck status and pressure him into changing his Iraq policy, analysts said.

But Bush, facing strong opposition in the U.S. Congress for the first time since taking office in 2001, can help himself and his legacy by reaching out to Democrats for some legislative accomplishments as he did when he was Texas governor from 1995 to 2000, they said.

"It makes it possible for him to be more than a lame duck," said Bruce Buchanan, a University of Texas political scientist who watched Bush work with Democrats in Texas. "If he plays hard ball, he won't get a thing."

And....

"Democrats will take command of powerful congressional committees that can issue subpoenas and compel testimony from administration figures.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, whom Bush wants to stay in his job for two more years, could be spending a lot of time in hearing rooms."

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