Republicans Deal Stinging Rebuke to Obama

Created by : Francis Goodwin View profile

House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio celebrates the GOP's victory that changes the balance of power in Congress.(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Nov. 3, 2010 -- WASHINGTON (Agence France Presse) -- U.S. voters handed Republicans a share of power and dealt a severe rebuke to President Barack Obama, as fear over the anemic economy crushed the hope of his historic election win two years ago.

Resurgent Republicans, led by the ultra-conservative Tea Party insurgency, steamrolled Democrats by taking at least 50 seats in the House of Representatives, leaving broad Democratic control in tatters. And the widening mid-term election margin was closing on historic levels Wednesday.

Beleaguered Democrats clung onto the Senate, but the Republicans netted six seats, with two more battleground states yet to be declared. They had needed an unlikely 10 pickups to take the Senate as well.

In one ray of light for Obama, his top Senate ally Harry Reid survived.