Democrats slipping in US Senate contests

WASHINGTON, Nov 3 (AP): Republicans are claiming new momentum before Americans vote Tuesday in a national election, attacking President Barack Obama in a final push to motivate voters to give them a Senate majority.
 Obama started his presidency with Democrats controlling both houses of Congress, but in 2010, midway through his first term, his party lost the House of Representatives in a wave of conservative Republican tea party victories.
 Obama's approval ratings, a few points above 40 percent, have hurt Democrats in Senate races, with most of them declining presidential appearances on the campaign trail.
 Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell cited encouraging polls as he campaigned across Kentucky, where he's trying to hold off a strong challenge from Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes.
 "We expect to win," McConnell said. "This election is largely a referendum on the president of the United States."
 Obama encouraged Democrats to reject Republican cynicism during a Sunday appearance with Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy, who is facing a tough re-election battle in a state carried by Obama in 2008 and 2012.
 "Despite all the cynicism, America is making progress," Obama said, imploring Democrats to vote on Tuesday.
 Obama has focused this past week's appearances on candidates for governor in states that he carried in both of his presidential runs. On Saturday, he headlined a rally in Detroit for Senate candidate Gary Peters and Mark Schauer, who's running for governor, and earlier in the week he campaigned in Wisconsin, Maine and Rhode Island.
 While the elections will determine winners in all 435 House districts and in 36 governors' seats, the national focus is largely on the Senate, where Republicans need to gain six seats to control the majority in the Congress that convenes in January. Republicans already control the House and are likely to add to their majority.
 Republicans appear certain of picking up at least three Senate seats - in West Virginia, Montana and South Dakota. There are nine other competitive Senate contests, six of them for seats in Democratic hands.
 If Republicans gain a Senate majority, Obama will find it very hard to push major Democratic-backed legislation through Congress in the final two years of his presidency. But he's already had almost no success with Congress since the 2010 elections, when Republicans gained an unassailable majority in the House. Obama could also have problems getting his judicial and administrative nominations confirmed by the Senate.
 But Republicans, if they control both houses of Congress, will be under severe pressure to govern rather than just block Obama's agenda. Republicans will be looking toward the 2016 presidential contest and eager to show they can get things done by passing measures that Obama will feel obliged to sign into law.
 They also know that they could easily lose the Senate in 2016 when their incumbents who rode the Republican wave into office in 2010 face re-election.
 The improving economy in Obama's sixth year in office - lower unemployment, improving home prices and sales, record high stock market numbers - has done little to boost Democrats.