ELECTION time in this New England town of houses painted in polite shades, disused brick smokestacks and trees with incandescent leaves is an antidote to pessimism about Washington. When the mid-terms are over, $4 billion will have been spent on the congressional races alone, according to the Centre for Responsive Politics, a watchdog. Much of this has gone on attack advertisements, some in gloriously bad taste, often paid for by donors whose identities are unknown.In the bar of the American Legion in Nashua, festooned with cobwebs, skulls, pumpkins and Bud Lite bunting, all that seems far away. Standing before a crowd of fewer than 50 ex-soldiers are two senators—John McCain of Arizona and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire—and one ex-senator who would like to be one again, Scott Brown. “None of us like what is happening in Washington,” says Senator Ayotte. Yet Washington is in a sense the expression of the wishes, often contradictory, of those who turn up to vote.The mid-terms will decide which party controls the Senate, as well as picking every member of the House of Representatives, 36 state governors (see...
from The Economist: United States http://ift.tt/1tTvhG3
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