US midterm clouds gather

With the US mid term elections approaching Ewan MacAskill in today's Guardian writes from America about the shockwaves permeating through the US political establishment as voters in primary elections in Delaware, New York and New Hampshire choose to stump for the right wing tea party movement candidates over their moderate Republican counterparts.

There's great concern from Republicans from former presidential candidate John McCain to former Bush W advisor Karl Rove that although the Tea Party candidates are gaining ground in the primaries, they will ultimately lose in the mid term electionswhen the wider US electorate come into play.  The main concern is that this could effectively prevent the Republicans regaining a majority in the Congress.

The mid term elections take place on 2 November 2010 and include ballots for a third of all Senators and all 435 Representatives in Congress, as well as some US State Governors.