Bush control of Congress on line in elections

Republican control of Congress was on the line today in a US election coloured by voters’ dismay over the Iraq war and misbehaviour in Washington.

At stake in the mid-term election were all 435 House of Representatives seats, 33 in the Senate, 36 races for governor, ballot measures on gay marriage, embryonic stem cell research, the minimum wage and more – plus the overarching fate of president George Bush’s agenda in the past two years of his presidency.