Republicans seek House majority, hope for wave

WASHINGTON (AP) - Republicans aren't just looking to wrest control of the House from the Democrats, they're hoping for an electoral cataclysm - a pickup of dozens of seats - to change the nation's direction in a year marked by voters' economic anxieties and disappointment with President Barack Obama. With GOP voters energized and tea party-fueled grassroots anger apparent across the country, the GOP was positioned to capture the 40 seats they would need for House control and had shots at claiming another 20 or more. Demoralized Democrats had solid chances to wrest fewer than a half-dozen seats from Republicans.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California planned to gather with Democrats at a downtown hotel, her party bracing for a bloodbath - the only question being how severe.

Blocks away, Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio, in line to claim Pelosi's job should his party make the expected gains, was to huddle with GOP leaders, careful to avoid a party-like atmosphere at a time when voters appear fed up with both sides.

It was shaping up as a remarkable turnabout from 2008, when Obama helped propel Democrats to big gains in their House majority only two years after the 2006 wave that swept them to control. Now few Democratic incumbents feel safe, least of all the 51 who claimed Republican seats over the last four years.

Strategists in both parties expected GOP successes that could rival the party's 1994 wave to power, which handed them 52 seats and control of the House for the first time in 40 years.

High unemployment and disillusionment with Obama and his allies in Congress posed seemingly insurmountable challenges for dozens of Democratic candidates in all regions of the country, from freshmen to the most powerful veterans.

Democrats now control the House by a 255-178 margin, with two vacancies. All 435 seats are up for grabs.

The GOP had some four-dozen Democratic freshmen and second-termers on the defense in conservative and swing districts and was targeting another roughly 30 Democrats once thought to be safe or relatively so, plus more than a dozen seats left open by Democratic retirements.

The GOP wasn't expecting a completely clean sweep. Strategists privately conceded that Democrats were likely to oust Republican Rep. Ahn "Joseph" Cao in New Orleans, and win Delaware's lone House seat, left open by GOP Rep. Mike Castle's unsuccessful Senate run. Democrats were also targeting Hawaii GOP Rep. Charles Djou, and holding out hope of picking up open seats in Miami and the Chicago suburbs.

House candidates and party committees raised and spent tons of campaign cash, and Democrats had a slight edge. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spent $145 million to bankroll its candidates, compared with $121 million shelled out by the National Republican Congressional Committee. That's nearly double what the Democratic campaign arm spent in the last election, and more than five times what the Republican counterpart did when the tables were turned.

GOP candidates poured a total of $419 million into their campaigns, while Democrats spent $421.5 million.

But Republican-allied outside groups skewed the playing field dramatically. They spent $189.5 million savaging Democratic candidates while independent groups skewering Republicans spent $89 million.