Hot Buttons: Talk show topics

VOTER TURNOUT

Overall voter turnout in Tuesday's elections was not expected to break out of the range of 33.3 percent to 37.5 percent of all eligible voters, which has been the midterm norm over the past dozen years, according to Curtis Gans, director of the Committee for the Study of the American Electorate.

"This year's elections are a clear reminder that competition is the lifeblood of democratic elections. It is competition that gives voters a real choice. And it is competition that lures people to the polls," Thomas E. Patterson, a professor at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, tells United Press International.

There were only about three dozen competitive races out of a total of 435 House contests, and 98.5 percent of House incumbents were re-elected, typically by margins of more than 2 to 1, Patterson says.

-- Patterson says in its quest for audiences the media downgraded public affairs coverage, including election coverage. Would you watch or read more campaign coverage?

-- Turnout among Americans between 18 and 30 years of age was nearly 50 percent in 1972, but barely 30 percent in 2000. Why don't young people vote?

(Thanks to UPI National Correspondent Steve Sailer)

BUSH REACHES OUT

President George W. Bush was reaching out to Democrats to encourage a bipartisan approach to legislation in the 108th Congress and in the lame-duck session that begins next week, according to the White House.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer says Bush had no public events scheduled so he could use the telephone to stress "the election is behind us and we need to work together" for the good of the country.

"The president thought that the most appropriate way to mark the day would be with a touch of graciousness. And so the president is not going to have any public statements today," says Fleischer.

Republicans defied historical trends by increasing their majority in the House of Representatives and regaining control of the Senate in midterm elections.

-- Do you expect more or less bipartisan cooperation in Washington?

-- Was Bush being gracious or calculating?

(Thanks to UPI's White House Correspondent Richard Tomkins)

CHICAGO PREPARES FOR MEETING

Hoping to avert the violence that gripped Seattle during the 1999 World Trade Organization meeting, Chicago has taken steps to prepare in advance of the opening of the Trans-Atlantic Business Dialogue meeting Thursday.

Thousands of protesters are expected to descend on the city as corporate leaders from the European Union and the United States, along with senior government officials, confer on trans-Atlantic trade policy, United Press International reports.

The city has assembled a special squad of 130 police officers -- all at least 6-foot-4 -- to handle demonstrators. Police have labeled the officers Special Response Teams but anti-globalization groups have dubbed them "goon squads."

"I think we should be more worried about the police instigating violence than any protesters doing it," Rocky Pyskoty, a spokesman for the TBD Planning Party, a coalition of labor and religious groups, tells the Chicago Sun-Times.

-- Chicago Mayor Richard Daley has been sharply critical of the way Seattle handled its 1999 protests, saying it was the result of poor planning. Do you agree?

-- What do you think of recruiting police at least 6-foot 4 inches in height?