http://www.starttherevolution.org/archives/2006/j%20-%20october/SixYearsForAThoughtcrime.htm

15-Year-Old Boy Gets Six Years In State Prison For Thoughtcrime

by Winter Patriot | October 7, 2006

From CBS News:

A 15-year-old boy who prosecutors said was the mastermind of a failed plot to go on a shooting spree in a suburban school was sentenced Friday to six years in state prison.

Edwin DeLeon and three other teens pleaded guilty earlier this year to scheming to shoot teachers and students in April. Authorities said they planned to open fire at Winslow Township High School in Camden County, where DeLeon and two of the others were students, and then turn their guns on other people in the community.

Despite attempts, the teens in the Philadelphia suburb were never able to get a gun. School officials heard about the plans and the boys were arrested before anyone was hurt.

We have a few more details from the (South Jersey) Courier Post Online:

Initially charge[d] with terrorism, the four were arrested after a girlfriend of one reported the plan to school officials.

All four admitted their role in the plan, two in juvenile court and two in adult court. Those in juvenile court have yet to be sentenced. The other in adult court -- Peter Cunningham, 16 -- was sentenced on Sept. 22 to five years.

All four pleaded guilty to conspiring to possess a handgun.

So ... Let's recap, shall we?

Charged with terrorism, guilty of conspiring to possess a handgun.

Six years for the fifteen-year-old would-be "mastermind".

Five years for his sixteen-year-old would-be accomplice.

The others are too young to talk about.

And they didn't even have a gun!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15334972/

It’s North vs. South in doughnut civil war
Will Southerners give up their love of Krispy Kreme for a Dunkin' Donuts?
The Associated Press

FRANKLIN, Tenn. - When asked how he got his own Dunkin' Donuts store, Joe Rando holds up the afternoon cup of coffee he's just poured for himself.

"Lifelong Dunkin' fanatic," he said.

When the Maine native moved South with his former company to the Nashville area a couple years ago, he found he had to do without his favorite treat.

"I sort of woke up one morning and said, 'There aren't any Dunkin' Donuts here. Why is that?' So I made a phone call," Rando said.

From its first store in Quincy, Mass., Dunkin' Donuts has become the quintessential Northeastern doughnut shop, with working-class credentials and obsessive customers.

But now the Canton, Mass.-based chain plans to expand south and west across the country, and that begs the question: Will Southerners, with their long-standing love of Krispy Kreme's sugar-glaze, find room for another doughnut?

Rando is in charge of 12 Nashville-area stores that will serve as a prototype for the company's expansion, testing everything from new products to store appearance.

Dunkin' Donuts currently has about 4,400 stores in 36 U.S. states, but the majority are in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic region. (There are another 1,700 international Dunkin' Donuts stores in 29 countries.)

Company executives hope to triple the total number of U.S. stores by 2020.

Going from regional to national
"Our objective is to take the brand national," Dunkin' Donuts brand officer Robert Rodriguez said. "We have been a very successful super-regional chain."

But parent Dunkin' Brands Inc. is invading the South with a different sort of doughnut — thicker and cakier than the traditional Southern treat from Krispy Kreme, which is lighter, sugar-glazed and served hot.

Executives at both companies say their doughnuts have a universal appeal, but Rando says there's no middle ground.

"It's like the Red Sox and the Yankees — you like one or the other," he said.

Stan Parker, senior vice president of marketing for North Carolina-based Krispy Kreme, said many Southerners have grown up with their doughnuts and think of a trip to Krispy Kreme as more than just breakfast or a snack.

"For many people, Krispy Kreme has been part of their lives for a long time," he said.

Rosemary Evans was clearly in the Krispy Kreme camp as she shared a dozen doughnuts with her children on a recent Saturday morning.

"Dunkin' Donuts just don't have much flavor," said Evans, who grew up in Alabama. "These are just more moist. You can fold them up and stuff a whole one in your mouth."

Dunkin' Donuts fan Jack Lehnhart disagrees. "Wax doughnuts," he says about Krispy Kremes.

Lehnhart, an Ohio native, and his wife Nancy brought their out-of-town guests, Jo-Ann and Bob Ruel, to the Dunkin' Donuts store in Franklin before the Ruels started driving home to Chatham, Mass.

"When we're on the highway, we're always looking for the DD sign," Jo-Ann Ruel said.

Josh Owens, an equity analyst who follows the restaurant industry for Morningstar in Chicago, said Krispy Kreme is still a relatively small chain compared to Dunkin'.

"Dunkin' Donuts has a reasonably strong brand. It's a brand a lot of people are familiar with. It's not necessarily going to have the fad element that Krispy Kreme had with its expansion," he said.

Krispy Kreme went public in 2000 and became a national sensation as it expanded across the country. Its stock price and profits climbed rapidly, but then crashed in 2004.

Krispy Kreme executives at the time blamed the low-carb craze for declining sales, but the company had serious problems — it faces shareholder lawsuits and investigations alleging it engaged in faulty accounting — and analysts said it grew too fast. Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc. recently hired two former tobacco executives who are expected to help the company clear some of its problems.

Dunkin' Donuts executives say that won't happen to them because they plan to expand slowly and with a broader line of products.

'Renowned for our coffee'
"We're very different," Rodriguez said "Our brand and our model is very different. We're a full line of baked goods. We're renowned for our coffee, which is a major, major player."

In fact, Dunkin's coffee may be more important to its business prospects than its cakey doughnuts. While Starbucks Corp. leads the growing $11 billion industry, there's still plenty of room, Owens said.

Dunkin' Donuts' blue-collar customer base varies so much from the more upscale patrons at Starbucks that the two companies practically operate in separate markets, he said.

Dunkin' Donuts believes some of its other products — bagels, breakfast sandwiches, cookies, flavored coffee — will attract Southern customers, even if they stay loyal to Krispy Kremes.

"We have Starbucks employees that come from across the street," Rando said. "They aren't shy about why they're there. They'll say 'Hey, we like our coffee better, but you've got an awesome menu.' "

http://www.livescience.com/history/061021_ap_population_400.html

America in 2043
By Erin Texeira
Associated Press
posted: 21 October 2006
06:50 pm ET

Now that the United States officially numbers more than 300 million, what next?

What will 400 million look like?

If demographers are right, we'll hit that mark by 2043. They and other futurists envision a typical American neighborhood that year will be something like this:

More than likely it will be located in the South or West, despite scarce water resources and gas prices that make $3 a gallon (euro2.38 per 3.8 liters) look like a bargain. Barely half of the community's residents will be white, and one in four whites will be senior citizens. Nearly one in four people will be Latino and multiracial Americans will be commonplace.

"We're going to be growing for the next 50 or 100 years, but it's not because of the birthrate,'' said John Bongaarts, vice president of the Population Council, a nonprofit in New York. "If the birthrate were to drop we'd have a very different future ahead. If we were not living longer and had no migrants we wouldn't be growing at all.''

The U.S. will keep getting more racially and ethnically diverse—by 2043, it will be about 15 percent non-Hispanic black, 8 percent Asian and 24 percent Hispanic.

Ideas about race that hold sway now, simply won't then, just as the attitudes of 30 years ago have changed.

For example, in the 1970s one in three whites favored laws that barred marriage between blacks and whites; in recent years it's barely one in 10.

More than 7 million Americans reported in Census 2000 that they were multiracial—42 percent of them were under age 18.

"The racial lines will basically be blurred,'' said William H. Frey, a demographer with the Brookings Institution. "It's hard to say what the different classifications will be. ... The stark racial categories now won't hold.''

Mixing and melding will be the norm for today's children, who by 2043 will be moving into positions of power across society as the last baby boomers close in on 80.

"Think of the electoral base,'' said C. Matthew Snipp, a sociologist and demographer at Stanford University. "It seems likely that the power structures will change.''

Demographers say some of today's trends will continue: Rust Belt cities like Detroit, Pittsburgh and Cleveland will probably keep losing population, though some argue that lower costs of living may attract people who can telecommute to jobs elsewhere.

The fastest growing states will continue to be Nevada, Arizona and Florida. Census projections through 2030 show the Sun Belt continuing to gain population.

With some cities and suburbs becoming more densely populated, far-out exurban areas will keep growing—which will probably mean longer commutes and more demand for gasoline. Demographers predict costs for gas and water, now relatively inexpensive, will mushroom.

Lifesaving drugs and technologies will help Americans stay alive longer than ever—and the nation overall will age.

In 2000, 12.4 percent of Americans were aged 65 and older—but that percentage is projected to jump to 20 percent by 2043. More than one in four residents of Florida, New Mexico, North Dakota, Maine, Montana and Wyoming will be over age 65.

Here's another way to think of the senior boom: Between 2000 and 2050, the group of Americans who are 85 and older will nearly quadruple to almost 21 million.

The good news is this will help revitalize rural, retirement-friendly places with lots of natural amenities like the nation's Western mountains and some Great Lakes areas, said Kenneth Johnson of Loyola University-Chicago. "These tourist and retirement destinations are the fastest-growing rural areas,'' he said, adding that this is attracting workers—many new immigrants—to build houses and tend hotels.

But a big bubble of elderly Americans also will strain Social Security and Medicare, and there will be "big battles'' over how to pay for them, Bongaarts said.

Demographers repeatedly warned that projections are iffy—things change.

Expected medical breakthroughs may not happen. World events—wars, diseases, economic ups and down—can stop or speed up immigration. Americans could stop having enough children to replace themselves, which they're just barely managing now. Things that seemed a lock just a short time ago can be thwarted.

Two years ago, for example, California officials downgraded by 15 percent their predictions for state growth, mainly because Latino families were having far fewer babies than expected. When the U.S. hit 200 million people in 1967, the nation was supposed to reach 300 million before the end of the century.

"Nobody really knows for certain where this will go,'' Snipp said. "All this is premised on many, many assumptions.''

http://www.redherring.com/PrintArticle.aspx?a=19309§or=Industries

Apple iPod Wi-Fi Network? XM?

Patent Watch: Will Apple's patent filing reshape music market?
October 20, 2006

If a patent filing is any indicator, Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs may have nothing to fear from Microsoft’s upcoming wireless Zune player and its media service.

Apple Computer has filed a patent that could allow an iPod to record tunes from thin air, transmit samples of the songs wirelessly to a server that identifies associated media, and enable users to purchase and download them.

Apple's filing specifies that a “portable media device” could record a sample, transmit that sample to a server network to identify that sample, and provide the user of the device with numerous media types such as music and video, available for purchase. Details of Microsoft's Zune digital media player became known in August when Toshiba, its hardware maker, filed the plans with the Federal Communications Commission (see Microsoft's Zune Plans Revealed).

"Whenever you a see a patent like this with Apple it means that they’re working on something," said Enderle Group analyst Rob Enderle. "They’re getting a bit more aggressive about getting the patent in just before the product. They don’t want it to get out."

Apple's patent move falls in line with analysts' expectations that the Mac maker would file when plans were well along so it could keep a lid on news leaking out on iPhones and wireless iPods.

"You could sample music on your iPod, take it home and by then get the sample," Mr. Enderle said. "It might work on the new iPhone--that would be the perfect implementation. It further supports that iPhone is coming out next year."

It also comes after an analyst came out and said that two models of iPhones are coming (see Two Apple iPhones Coming). “Based upon our early checks, we expect Apple to unveil two models of its widely anticipated cell phones,” Prudential Equity Group analyst Jesse Tortora said in a research note on Monday. Mr. Tortora said the two phones will most likely be launched at the MacWorld conference in January. One of the phones, he said, will be a smart phone featuring an integrated keyboard, video, and music capabilities. The other will be a slimmer phone with music. One of them will feature Wi-Fi, he noted.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published the patent Thursday, which was assigned to Apple Computer. The patent covers claims for an “audio sampling and acquisition” system and details a number of uses for a portable media device. The patent was first filed August 22, 2005.

The patent makes reference to documents on content security for broadcasts. A document titled “Content Identification: Audio Fingerprinting Technology” mentions a Philips web site covering content ID watermarking technology for broadcasters and others that want to control content.

iPhone on AT&T?

The patent filing, which refers to a wireless carrier, may relate to Apple’s iPhone as well. The patent filing contains a document reference: “AT&T Wireless: mMode phones and how to access your music and ring tones.”

"The AT&T reference could well mean they are going down the road with AT&T," Mr. Enderle said. "That’s just a hint. If it were me and I wanted an international carrier, I’d pick an AT&T. Apple sells internationally, so they’d want something that goes through the stores internationally.”

Analysts have long suspected that Apple would do business in a so-called mobile virtual network operator arrangement. With an MVNO setup, the computer maker would be able to better control its brand on phones and sell through Apple's brick-and-mortar and online stores.

Apple may also have a deal with XM Satellite in the works. The filing makes reference to documents covering MacXM, a program that allows Mac OS X to control an XM Satellite Radio device.

“I think I’ve seen something on this filing,” said an XM representative who declined to comment further.

http://www.truthdig.com/report/print/200601019_after_pats_birthday/

After Pat’s Birthday
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/200601019_after_pats_birthday/
Posted on Oct 19, 2006

By Kevin Tillman

Editor’s note: Kevin Tillman joined the Army with his brother Pat in 2002, and they served together in Iraq and Afghanistan. Pat was killed in Afghanistan on April 22, 2004. Kevin, who was discharged in 2005, has written a powerful, must-read document.

It is Pat’s birthday on November 6, and elections are the day after. It gets me thinking about a conversation I had with Pat before we joined the military. He spoke about the risks with signing the papers. How once we committed, we were at the mercy of the American leadership and the American people. How we could be thrown in a direction not of our volition. How fighting as a soldier would leave us without a voice… until we got out.

Much has happened since we handed over our voice:

Somehow we were sent to invade a nation because it was a direct threat to the American people, or to the world, or harbored terrorists, or was involved in the September 11 attacks, or received weapons-grade uranium from Niger, or had mobile weapons labs, or WMD, or had a need to be liberated, or we needed to establish a democracy, or stop an insurgency, or stop a civil war we created that can’t be called a civil war even though it is. Something like that.

Somehow America has become a country that projects everything that it is not and condemns everything that it is.

Somehow our elected leaders were subverting international law and humanity by setting up secret prisons around the world, secretly kidnapping people, secretly holding them indefinitely, secretly not charging them with anything, secretly torturing them. Somehow that overt policy of torture became the fault of a few “bad apples” in the military.

Somehow back at home, support for the soldiers meant having a five-year-old kindergartener scribble a picture with crayons and send it overseas, or slapping stickers on cars, or lobbying Congress for an extra pad in a helmet. It’s interesting that a soldier on his third or fourth tour should care about a drawing from a five-year-old; or a faded sticker on a car as his friends die around him; or an extra pad in a helmet, as if it will protect him when an IED throws his vehicle 50 feet into the air as his body comes apart and his skin melts to the seat.

Somehow the more soldiers that die, the more legitimate the illegal invasion becomes.

Somehow American leadership, whose only credit is lying to its people and illegally invading a nation, has been allowed to steal the courage, virtue and honor of its soldiers on the ground.

Somehow those afraid to fight an illegal invasion decades ago are allowed to send soldiers to die for an illegal invasion they started.

Somehow faking character, virtue and strength is tolerated.

Somehow profiting from tragedy and horror is tolerated.

Somehow the death of tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of people is tolerated.

Somehow subversion of the Bill of Rights and The Constitution is tolerated.

Somehow suspension of Habeas Corpus is supposed to keep this country safe.

Somehow torture is tolerated.

Somehow lying is tolerated.

Somehow reason is being discarded for faith, dogma, and nonsense.

Somehow American leadership managed to create a more dangerous world.

Somehow a narrative is more important than reality.

Somehow America has become a country that projects everything that it is not and condemns everything that it is.

Somehow the most reasonable, trusted and respected country in the world has become one of the most irrational, belligerent, feared, and distrusted countries in the world.

Somehow being politically informed, diligent, and skeptical has been replaced by apathy through active ignorance.

Somehow the same incompetent, narcissistic, virtueless, vacuous, malicious criminals are still in charge of this country.

Somehow this is tolerated.

Somehow nobody is accountable for this.

In a democracy, the policy of the leaders is the policy of the people. So don’t be shocked when our grandkids bury much of this generation as traitors to the nation, to the world and to humanity. Most likely, they will come to know that “somehow” was nurtured by fear, insecurity and indifference, leaving the country vulnerable to unchecked, unchallenged parasites.

Luckily this country is still a democracy. People still have a voice. People still can take action. It can start after Pat’s birthday.

http://edition.cnn.com/2006/LAW/10/16/sticker.suit.ap/

Nurse sues over ticket for anti-Bush bumper sticker
POSTED: 1323 GMT (2123 HKT), October 17, 2006
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ATLANTA, Georgia (AP) -- A woman who was ticketed for having an obscene anti-Bush bumper sticker filed a lawsuit in federal court Monday against a county in the state of Georgia and its officials.

Denise Grier, 47, of Athens, Georgia, got a $100 ticket in March after a DeKalb County police officer spotted the bumper sticker, which read "I'm Tired Of All The BUSH**."

A DeKalb judge threw out the ticket in April because the state's lewd decal law that formed the basis for the ticket was ruled unconstitutional in 1990. (Watch to see what else Grier glued to her car -- 1:36)

Grier is seeking damages from the county for "emotional distress," according to the lawsuit.

Grier also seeks a declaration in federal court that her bumper sticker is considered constitutionally protected speech because she is "uncertain and insecure regarding her right to display her bumper sticker in DeKalb County," the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia.

Grier, a nurse who works at Emory University and other hospitals, also is seeking punitive damages against the DeKalb police officer who gave her the ticket because he "acted with reckless disregard" of her rights, the lawsuit said.

The state law prohibited lewd or profane stickers and decals on vehicles.

http://buzz.yahoo.com/buzzlog/44213/sic-sic-sic

We'll be the first to admit we've yet to master the English language. Any time we slip up, you're there to remind us of our gaffes in a not-so-gentle way. But we do believe we have a gift for spelling words correctly. However, never let it be said that we are haters of the spelling-challenged.

We know some of our searchers aren't dexterous when it matters most. Misspelling your query in the Search box used to lead to disastrous results. But thanks to our advanced computerized technology, we can catch most of your mistakes and provide you with the correct result.

For folks whose spelling skills leave something to be desired, we provide this list of our top 20 misspelled searches. Study it and learn from the errors of your fellow searchers ways...

1. Rachel Ray (Rachael Ray)
2. Tatoos (Tattoos)
3. Scarlett Johanson (Scarlett Johansson)
4. Wierd Al Yankovic (Weird Al Yankovic)
5. Evanesence (Evanescence)
6. Soduku (Sudoku)
7. Barbara Streisand (Barbra Streisand)
8. Louis Vitton (Louis Vuitton)
9. Jamie Presley (Jaime Pressly)
10. Jimmy Buffet (Jimmy Buffett)
11. Brittany Spears (Britney Spears)
12. Brittney Spears (ibid)
13. Anna Nichole Smith (Anna Nicole Smith)
14. Eva Mendez (Eva Mendes)
15. Jessica Beil (Jessica Biel)
16. The Biggest Looser (The Biggest Loser)
17. Jennifer Anniston (Jennifer Aniston)
18. Marie Antionette (Marie Antoinette)
19. Mercedez Benz (Mercedes Benz)
20. Micheal Jordan (Michael Jordan)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,329602534-103681,00.html

Don't mention the president: how Republicans hope to stay in power

Bush factor is proving a negative for voters and candidates along the campaign trail
Suzanne Goldenberg in Phoebus, Virginia
Tuesday October 17, 2006

Guardian
The congresswoman curls her bare toes into the white leather seat of a Lincoln stretch convertible, and leans back to wave at the crowd lining the parade route, basking in the warm autumn sun and the attention of the two small grandsons riding in the car with her.

It rarely gets as good as this on the campaign trail for Thelma Drake, a first-term Republican member of Congress fighting for her political survival in the November 7 midterm elections. This was supposed to have been one of the safest seats in the country. "Borderline of vicious, that's how it's been," said her husband, Ted Drake.

The 2nd congressional district of Virginia is deeply conservative terrain. It is home to the world's largest naval base, and more than 20% of the population is military, on active duty or retired. George Bush carried 58% of the vote here in 2004. Ms Drake took her seat with a 10-point margin, and that was as a last-minute replacement for a conservative Republican who resigned after being outed as gay.

But in this election season, where opinion polls and analysts suggest the Republicans are in serious peril of losing control of the House of Representatives, the president is now seen as a liability for Republicans like Ms Drake who are in tight races. Mr Bush's image has been scrubbed from Republican television ads in all but the most secure districts - although he is everywhere in Democratic attack ads. When he goes out on the campaign trail, it's for closed door high-ticket fundraisers, with a guaranteed friendly crowd.

But even that was too much exposure for Ms Drake. The congresswoman was so nervous about being seen in public with an unpopular president that she stayed behind in Washington when Mr Bush visited the district last summer for a $5,000 (£2,700) a plate fundraiser.

Ms Drake's biggest challenge remains deflecting charges from her Democratic challenger, Phil Kellam, that she is a rubber stamp for the White House. "They are trying to say that I vote for President Bush all the time, but if I disagree with President Bush I don't go along with that," she insisted.

Mr Kellam is scornful. "She just blindly follows the president and hasn't asked the tough questions," he said.

Such exchanges are being played out in dozens of congressional districts across America in an increasingly competitive election. Larry Sabato, a political analyst at the University of Virginia, believes as many as 50 seats could change hands in these elections, of which 42 are held by Republicans. For Ms Drake and others who are locked in tight races, being seen with Mr Bush is just not worth the risk.

With the president's approval ratings hovering in the low to mid-30s, many Republican candidates are finding it necessary to dissociate themselves from Mr Bush. "Republicans are trying to run not as Republicans, not as surrogates for Bush, they are trying to run as themselves," said Stuart Rothenburg, who publishes a well-regarded political newsletter in Washington.

Ms Drake was not the only candidate to flee when the president came to call. (In her defence, Ms Drake said she stayed behind to vote on a bill that would direct projects to her district. The bill passed 395-0).

Michael Steele, who is running for a Senate seat in Maryland, left for Las Vegas when Mr Bush visited his state for a fundraiser. Tom Kean, who is running for the Senate in New Jersey, did not go to those extremes - but he made sure not to turn up at his fundraiser until the president had left.

"I think the country is upset with the president. It's making Republican races throughout the country very tough," said Tom Gear, the local representative to the Virginia house of delegates, who is also a Republican.

Republicans are also giving a wide berth to their party leadership in the House of Representatives following reports that the speaker, Dennis Hastert, tolerated for years the behaviour of a Florida congressman who made sexual overtures towards teenage congressional pages. Would Ms Drake welcome a campaign swing by Mr Hastert in the final heat of the campaign? "That is something we have to decide, whether he can do an appearance," she said. "We are down to a time crunch."

While Republicans such as Ms Drake may be camera shy when Mr Bush is around, they continue to rely on the campaign funds that the president and the house leadership can provide. Mr Bush has personally raised more than $180m for candidates this year, and his White House is more actively engaged in the congressional elections than any other in recent memory.

If Republican candidates need to step away from the administration to win re-election, Mr Bush, it appears, is willing to turn the other cheek. The disavowals of Mr Bush are a radical departure from the 2002 congressional elections. In those midterm elections, 20% of Republican candidates relied on images of Mr Bush in their campaign ads, said Joel Rivlin, of the University of Wisconsin project on political advertising.

This time around, Republicans are keen to flaunt their independence. In Minnesota, Mark Kennedy, a Republican fighting for a seat in the Senate, has gone out of his way to point out his disagreements with the White House. "I am not afraid to work for the other side," his ads say.

In Pennsylvania, Republican congressman Jim Gerlach has run ads claiming: "When I believe President Bush is right, I'm behind him. But when I think he is wrong, I let him know that."

Other candidates have tried a stealth approach by removing references to the Republican party in television advertisements. When it comes to posting pictures of Republican leaders on their websites, they are careful to choose mavericks such as the former mayor of New York, Rudy Giuliani, and the Arizona senator John McCain.

Some candidates have stayed away from humans altogether. In Maryland, Mr Steele tried to pre-empt Democratic attacks on his proximity to Mr Bush by appearing with a puppy in his arms.

The tactic didn't work. The Democrats snapped back immediately with a television ad showing Mr Steele and Mr Bush, locked together within a heart-shaped frame. "Michael Steele. He likes puppies, but he loves George Bush," the voiceover said.

Explainer: The crucial seats

At stake in the congressional mid-term elections on November 7 are all 435 seats in the House of Representatives, 33 Senate seats, and 36 governorships.

In the house, the Republicans hold 231 seats, the Democrats 202. The one independent usually votes with the Democrats. One seat is vacant. The Democrats need a net gain of 15 seats to win the house, and more than 40 Republican seats are thought vulnerable, compared with nine Democrat. The battlegrounds are in the east: Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, New York and Florida.

In the Senate there are 55 Republicans, 44 Democrats and one independent. Of the 33 up for election, 15 are Republican-held, 17 Democrat, and the independent seat, Vermont, is almost certain to go Democrat. The Democrats must make a net gain of six seats to win. There are eight vulnerable Republicans: in Missouri, Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, Tennessee, and Arizona. The Democrats' most vulnerable seat is in New Jersey.

The Republicans have 28 governors, the Democrats 22. Of those up for election the Republicans have the most to lose. Five states seem to have slipped from their grasp - New York, Ohio, Arkansas, Colorado and Massachusetts. Maryland, Nevada and Minnesota could go either way. Democrats are in danger in Iowa, Michigan, Oregon and Wisconsin.