MAPLETON, Reuter: Opposition Democratic Party leaders say their road back to full control of the US, Congress may begin in the Mid-West, where they aim to convert hard times on the farm into victories in the November elections,
If the Democrats take back the Senate, they will do it in the Mid-West” says Will Marshall of the Democratic leadership council, an organization of National Party officers.
The party needs a net gain of four Senate seats 10 overcome the 531047 edge held by President Reagan’s Republicans and recapture that body for the first time since Reagan swept to power in 1980, Democrats already control the House of Representatives.
Changes look especially good for the Democrats to recoup this year because of the 34 Senate seats up for renewal for six year terms, 22 are Republican.
14 of those are held by Senators first elected in 1980 on the tails of Reagan’s landslide victory over Jimmy Carger. an advantage they ‘will not enjoy this time with the President not on the ballot and entering the last half of his last term.
Four of the first term Republican Senators come from the farming states of Iowa, South Dakota, North Dakota and Wisconsin, where thousands of farms have failed and where many banks and farm related business have closed their doors.
Article extracted from this publication >> October 17, 1986
