Newspaper Page Text
TODAYS TOP HEADLINES
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
Sunday, November 4, 2018 3A
Presidency faces high stakes
Midterm elections seen as referendum on Trump, his policies during first two years in office
JANIE OSBORNE I Associated Press
President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at Bozeman Yellowstone International
Airport, Saturday, Nov. 3, in Belgrade, Mont.
BY ZEKE MILLER AND
CATHERINE LUCEY
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - President
Donald Trump has been acting
like a candidate on the ballot
this week, staging daily double-
header rallies and blasting
out ads for Republicans up for
election on Tuesday. Given the
stakes for his presidency, he
might as well be.
A knot of investigations. Par
tisan gridlock. A warning shot
for his re-election bid. Trump
faces potentially debilitating
fallout should Republicans
lose control of one or both
chambers in Congress, ending
two years of GOP hegemony
in Washington. A White House
that has struggled to stay on
course under favorable cir
cumstances would be tested
in dramatic ways. A president
who often battles his own
party, would face a far less for
giving opposition.
On the flip side, if Republi
cans maintain control of the
House and Senate, that’s not
only a victory for the GOP, but a
validation of Trump’s brand of
politics and his unconventional
presidency. That result, consid
ered less likely even within the
White House, would embolden
the president as he launches his
own re-election bid.
White House aides insist the
president doesn’t spend much
time contemplating defeat,
but he has begun to try to cali
brate expectations. He has
focused on the competitive
Senate races the final days of
his scorched-earth campaign
blitz, and has distanced him
self from blame should Repub
licans lose the House. If that
happens, he intends to claim
victory, arguing his efforts on
the campaign trail narrowed
GOP losses and helped them
hold the Senate, according to a
person familiar with Trump’s
thinking who asked for ano
nymity because the person was
not authorized to discuss White
House conversations by name.
Throughout the campaign,
Trump has been tested out
other explanations — pointing
to historical headwinds for the
party of an incumbent presi
dent and complaining about a
rash of GOP retirements this
year. He told the AP last month
that he won’t bear any respon
sibility should Democrats take
over.
At a rally in West Virginia
Friday a defiant Trump
brushed off the prospect of a
Democratic House takeover.
“It could happen,” he said,
adding “don’t worry about it.
I’ll just figure it out.”
Meanwhile his staff has
begun preparations to deal
with a flood of subpoenas that
could arrive next year from
Democrat-controlled com
mittees and the White House
counsel’s office has been try
ing to attract seasoned lawyers
to field oversight inquiries.
Should they take the House,
Democrats are already plot
ting to reopen the House
Intelligence Committee’s inves
tigation into Trump campaign’s
ties to Russia. Other commit
tees are plotting aggressive
oversight of Trump’s adminis
tration and his web of business
interests. Some Democrats
are looking at using the House
Ways and Means Committee to
obtain copies of the president’s
tax returns after he broke with
decades of tradition and with
held them from public scrutiny
during his campaign for the
White House.
A slim Republican majority
in the House would also pres
ent challenges, likely inflam
ing simmering intraparty
disputes. First among them
would be a potentially bitter
leadership fight in the House
to replace retiring Speaker
Paul Ryan. But a narrowed
majority would also exacer
bate divisions over policy —
and continued unified control
could leave the GOP facing the
blame for gridlock.
“Clearly there’s an awful
lot on the line in terms of
the legislative agenda,” said
Republican consultant Josh
Holmes. “The prospect of a
Democratic controlled House
or Senate puts a serious wrin
kle in getting anything through
Congress.”
Some in the White House
think losing to Democrats
might actually be preferable.
They view Democrats eager
ness to investigate the presi
dent as a blessing in disguise
in the run-up to 2020. They
view House Minority Leader
Nancy Pelosi as a potent foil
for Trump, and believe they
can tag the party responsibility
for Washington dysfunction.
Ari Fleischer, George W.
Bush’s press secretary, said
Democratic control of the
House “has both peril and
promise for the president.”
“The peril is subpoenas,
investigations, legal bills and
headaches,” he said. “The
promise is Trump will have an
easy foil to run against: Pelosi
and Democratic leadership.”
White House aides have
discussed floating popular leg
islative issues, such as infra
structure, to tempt Democrats
and test the unity of the Demo
cratic opposition.
While keeping the House
remained an uphill battle for
the GOP, the in the closing
days of the campaign, Trump
and Republicans have tried to
sell voters on the possibilities
of another two years of GOP
control. They promised hard
line immigration policies and
more tax cuts, arguing that
Democrats would erase two
years of progress.
Texas’ early votes
exceed total cast
in 2014 election
Associated Press
AUSTIN — Nearly 4.9 million people voted
in Texas’ 30 largest counties during the early-
voting period, surpassing the total number of
votes cast throughout the state in the last mid
term election, according to secretary of state
figures released Saturday.
State data show more than
540,000 people in those 30
counties voted early Friday,
which was the last day of early
voting in the state. Although
Texas has 254 counties, the 30
largest are home to nearly 80
percent of the state’s residents.
The nearly 4.9 million early
votes exceed the 4.7 million
total votes cast in Texas in the
2014 midterm election.
In the state’s much-watched
Senate race, both Republican
incumbent Ted Cruz and Dem
ocrat Beto O’Rourke have said
strong turnout would benefit
them.
Cruz is seeking a second
term against O’Rourke, a rising
star in the Democratic Party who has shattered
Senate campaign fundraising records despite
shunning donations from outside political groups.
O’Rourke is trying to become Texas’ first
Democrat to win statewide office since 1994,
but faces long odds given the advantage that
GOP candidates have in statewide elections.
A three-term congressman and onetime punk
rocker, O’Rourke was virtually unknown outside
of his hometown of El Paso before challeng
ing Cruz. The charismatic candidate’s calls for
bipartisan optimism and willingness to visit all
254 Texas counties — even deeply Republican
areas that Democrats gave up on decades ago
— made him the toast of national liberal circles.
It also sparked speculation that O’Rourke
could use an upset of Cruz, or even a close loss,
to run for president in 2020. And it helped him
shatter Senate campaign fundraising records,
including raising an astounding $3 8-plus mil
lion just in the three-month period from July
through September.
Cruz dismisses that, saying “Texas won’t be
bought” and blaming the “hard left” which he
says is “filled with rage” against President Don
ald Trump. He says there are more Republicans
than Democrats in Texas, so if he can avoid con
servative complacency, he’ll win easily.
LAJ dental group
^ jmg- SEDATION ■ COSMETIC ■ IMPLANT
Caring for Families & Our Community
VOTE BGW DENTAL GROUP
BEST OF HALL 2019!
Voted Best Dentist 2016,2017 & 2018
BGW would be honored to have
your vote again this year!
We are proud to offer Hall County comprehensive
dental treatments including:
Children's dentistry Crown & bridge restorations
Cosmetic dentistry Wisdom teeth removal
Sedation dentistry Oral cancer care
Implants Root canals
Richard G. Bennett, Jr., DMD Ryan M. Wood, DMD
Cindy Fulenwider Greene, DMD Matthew L. Vaughn, DMD
Raina E. Graham, DMD Larry Jurgutis, DMD
Brett M. Maddox, DMD
GAINESVILLE
BRASELTO
1215 Vine St
1205 Friendship Rd
bgwdentalgroup.com
770-674-6994