US Elections Leave House and Senate Balance Nearly Unchanged
In-depth Report: US House of Rep  With nearly all votes counted
and races determined, the 2012 US elections left the two houses
of Congress virtually unchanged, with the Democrats increasing
their narrow margin of control in the Senate but cutting only
slightly into the Republican majority in the House of
Representatives.  The results demonstrate political crisis and
dwindling popular support for both parties, with the Republicans
suffering a debacle in the Senate, which they had been widely
expected to win, and the Democrats failing to make any serious
progress in winning the House despite Obama’s reelection.  The
Republican failure in the Senate was particularly striking. One
third of the upper house is selected every two years for six-
year terms, and 23 Democratic-controlled seats were at risk
compared to only 10 Republican-controlled seats because of the
Democratic sweep in the 2006 congressional elections.  Coming
into the election year, it wa