National

CHICAGO — Health care activists from around the country gathered here for a strategy meeting Nov. 11-12, energized in the wake of the Democrats winning control of both houses of Congress.

CLEVELAND — Flush with victory in the Nov. 7 elections, Cleveland’s labor activists, like their counterparts elsewhere, are pressing to broaden the base of their movement and are already taking initiatives to guarantee that campaign promises are realized.

BURLINGTON, Vt. — Bernie Sanders, the six-term independent congressman from Vermont, swept to victory in the race for U.S. Senate over Republican billionaire Rich Tarrant.

Time will tell what the impact of the Nov. 7 election on the immigration question will be. For the short term, it is worth noting that the Republicans lost at least 9 House seats held by members of Tom Tancredo’s hateful 104-member “House Immigration Reform Caucus” — the witches’ cauldron in which a lot of anti-immigrant stuff has been cooked up.

WASHINGTON — Animados por la ira y el disgusto contra George W. Bush, la guerra en Irak, la avaricia de las corporaciones, la corrupción, y los recortes en programas para las necesidades humanas, los votantes acudieron a las urnas el 7 de noviembre y terminaron con el control republicano de la Cámara de Representantes. Los republicanos han controlado a la cámara baja del Congreso por 12 años.

It was about Iraq, corruption, economic insecurity and the failure of government during Katrina. And no matter what name was on the ballot, it was about George W. Bush and the disastrous policies of the Republican ultra-right.

NEW YORK CITY — In 2001, New York State Supreme Court Justice Leland DeGrasse ruled that New York State was in violation of its own Constitution which guarantees every child the right to a “sound, basic education.” Since then, education activists, teachers and parents have been fighting — in the courts and in the court of public opinion — to remedy the gross inequities in public school funding.

Labor’s challenge in this election was to provide the organizing to transform the workers’ frustration and anger into political power, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said at a post-election press conference Nov. 8. It was not only labor’s message but its messengers who achieved that goal.

WASHINGTON — Fired by anger and disgust with George W. Bush, the Iraq war, corporate greed, corruption and human needs cutbacks, voters went to the polls Nov. 7 and terminated 12 years of Republican control of the U.S. House of Representatives. A switch to Democratic control of the Senate hinged on the undecided Virginia race, with the Democrat leading at press time.

Las organizaciones de clase trabajadora y sus aliados han lanzado una campaña masiva nacional para movilizar a los votantes en los últimos días antes del Día de las Elecciones — 7 de noviembre. Varias contiendas estrechas se decidirán por cuantos votos saque los trabajadores.