Firstly, they said they believe "the presidency controls everything going on here," including the media, and that Nigerian journalists are too a scared to report in the region.
However, in short order, the Party supposedly headed for "extinction" won the Presidency, kept control of both the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House, gained control of 33 out of 50 governorships, and won control of both chambers of the legislatures in 32 states (with Democrats controlling both chambers in only 5 states).
But having the power to carjack the presidency and control the fate of the country did give me that old X-rated tingle.
In an election year with the presidency and control of the House and the Senate up for grabs, the issues in these three bills are sticky indeed.
Each is wagering that its negotiating hand will be strengthened by the results of an election where the presidency and control of the House -- and perhaps even the Senate -- are balanced on a knife edge.
Although they lost the presidency and control of Parliament, the hard-liners, led by the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, still wield considerable power and have tried to stall Mr. Khatami's reformist movement.
Whether they can convert this popular theme in the Republican primaries into political momentum that carries through the general election and gives the G.O.P. the presidency and control of Congress remains to be seen.
In the country's second critical election, in 1896, the Republicans won the presidency and control of both houses of Congress, and the Republican Party became the majority party in most states outside the South.
An e-mail sent by Arizona State University's Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, where Mr. Downie teaches, said he "will call the presidential and Senate elections in approximately 20 key states that will decide the presidency and control of the Senate".
