US mid-term election starts

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Source: CCTV.com | 11-08-2006 08:29

Polling stations have opened across the United States in fiercely contested mid-term elections. Many have predicted a big defection from the Republican to the Democrat Party.

Republican control of Congress was on the line in an election colored by voters' dismay over the Iraq war and scandals in Washington.

At stake in the election were all 435 House seats, 33 in the Senate, 36 races for governor, ballot measures on gay marriage, embryonic stem cell research, the minimum wage and more.

Above all it will be seen as a judgment on President Bush's agenda in the last two years of his presidency.

Paul Derby, Virginia voter said, “I guess I voted against the Iraq war. That was the main thing, and against the congress and the Senate both. I think they are both broke and need to be fixed.”