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financial strength to work for a wide range of companies. from small businesses to major corporations. what can we do for you? >> and now "bbc world news." >> this is a bbc election special. polls have just closed in four more states. california, oregon, washington, and idaho join the other states across america where votes are now being counted. for more on those hotly contested races in california, we can now go to peter who is monitoring it all from our studios in los angeles. peter, what is going on there in california? what are you expecting? what are they expecting? >> well, certainly the jerry brown camp, the democrat candidate for governor, say they are very optimistic that perhaps in the next few minutes he will be declared the winner of that race, becoming the man to take over from arnold schwarzenegger, a very closely

contested race with meg whitman, the republican candidate, the woman who made her millions at ebay and spent a lot of those millions on this campaign, $160 million spent on campaigning against jerry brown. an amount of money, an obscene amount of money as some people have described it that may well have put off some california voters and may explain why -- certainly what the opinion polls have been suggesting comes true in the next few minutes that she has failed in that very expensive bid to become the governor. so we're waiting to hear. it could come fairly soon if it is a clear victory by jerry brown. and the senate seat, barbara boxer, a much more closely contested race in the final few weeks. that may take some time. carly fiorina is the republican candidate and she made her money being the head of hewlett-packard, another expensive campaign much more closely contested, largely over

the issue of jobs and the would create more jobs in california, 12.4% the unemployment rate here, much higher than the national average. as we say, we may have to wait some time before we get the se fact barbara boxer has been fighting extremely hard,

especially in these last few days. she said she knew this would be a tough campaign. i think that does reflect what's happening across the country. but as far as the governor's seat is concerned, or the governor's job is concerned, i think that has been a campaign that's been largely fought on personalities. the personality of meg whitman and jerry brown taking over from a large personality in arnold schwarzenegger who really turned off voters here in california as the republican governor, and i think that's one reason why we see this strange sort of reverse situation, if you like, here in california. >> peter in los angeles. we'll be back to you, i know, during the course of the evening with some very exciting results there. >> indeed, indeed we will. president barack obama's democratic party looks to lose the house of representatives in the midterm polls and winning seats in the senate. the republicans have 39 seats they need to gain to take control of the house.

they need 10 in the senate. the republicans, tea party movement, marco rubio and rand paul won in kentucky. a tea party tidal wave was headed to washington he said. >> 11% of the people approve of what's going on in congress. but tonight, there's a tea party tidal wave and we're sending a message to them. >> the tea party tidal wave there with rand paul. for more on the key races to watch in some of those states, let's go to emily with a big board back there. >> this is testing my ability. we've got 150 races still to go in the house, 435 all in all here. you can see, they're just starting to close up the gap here, 169 so far for the republicans in red, 115 for the democrats. don't read anything into this yet because these are changing the whole time.

pick out a few interesting races. you heard chet edwards lost in texas. he was looking for his 11th term there. this was an interesting one, a fellow democrat from what they call the blue dog democrats which means she's a fiscal conservative, more or less on the right of the party and stephanie up against christy, the youngest female in the house of representatives at the moment but it's a tight race, tough challenge and will be interesting to see if that fiscal conservatism could pull through some of these democrats in a pretty conservative state or whether they'll be written off and abandoned. this is another one as well. let me take you into wisconsin where the democrats would have had a very, very good chance of holding this under david obey who was there 40 years, retiring leaving the democrats in peril, putting in a relative unknown against shawn duffy who you might have known from the mtv crowd there. we're going to take you back right now because i think you've got some breaking news. >> indeed, emily. this is wisconsin.

we're talking about wisconsin, we're going to talk about the senate in wisconsin. russ feingold, one of the most liberal men of the senate lost his seat in wisconsin. that is a huge blow for the democratic party. the republicans have gained that. emily, you want to finish up what you were telling us? >> it would be very interesting to see if there is sort of a relationship between what happens in the senate and what happens in the house as a result of that. we'll be watching that carefully on the back of the russ feingold victory. another place where that might be interesting to watch is illinois. don't forget, this is in the senate, barack obama's old seat, mark kirk who was the house representative here for the republicans is standing this time and is left open to dan seals and bob dole. bob dole made an advertisement in which dan became a seal and the most extraordinary thing people will take away from this race. it's extremely tight and maybe

the democrats have one chance of holding this because that senate race looks incredibly tight. >> emily, seals don't have perfect teeth like that, do they? >> in this campaign, i think i've seen seals, sheep, certainly a lot of guns and somebody stamping on the white house. >> also one of my very favorite ads was where a democrat turned to a republican and told him liar, liar, pants on fire. when he we get to the ads saying that. >> across the atlantic. the sunday times. need we go on? >> obviously not from home. i am here. >> and not wearing your pajamas because it's a family show. andrew, you've written a lot about the fact that you're quite vexed by what's going on in the republican party. are you vexed tonight? >> yes, because i think what will be fascinating is what

happens from now on. we all kind of expected this. in fact it's kind of for me been anti-climatic where it came out where people guessed it would come out. >> no big shockers so far? >> no big shockers. the question is whether the republican party really wants to return to its fiscal conservative roots, what the tea party is saying and whether that applies -- >> you hear that or is it about other things, is it about social conservatism? >> i think it's about both those things. i think it's also just a general throw the bums out kind of wave election, the normal thing. it's exactly 94, almost exactly the same balance in the house as 94 except of course in 1994 the republicans had the senate and also the difference in 1994 when they rejected clinton is that clinton didn't get his health care in and obama has. >> sorry to interrupt, do you think that the republicans are going to commit the same mistake today that they committed in 1994 where they

basically shut down the federal government and overreached their new powers and therefore paid a consequence? >> i think you can bet the rent money that's exactly what is going to happen and there are a lot of people watching this who think that is the case. you're hearing the expression tonight, tea party tidal wave. they've won as many as they've lost so far. this isn't the sweep we exactly expected, karl paldino lost and we'll see with ken buck and joe miller follow the wave. >> you will describe yourself as, i think i'm going to put words in your mouth here, as somebody who is fiscally conservative, a libertarian, and probably fairly socially moderate. where do you fit in today's republican party? >> nowhere really i think. i would like them to cut taxes, seriously. i mean, keep taxes low, i'd love them to cut spending seriously, but i didn't see anybody on the campaign, any republicans stand up and say we're going to tackle

entitlements and defense which is where the money is. i think we may be stuck again in a kind of cycle of gridlock. they won't raise taxes. but nor will they agree with the democrats with obama to cut spending. we'll be so trapped that they may well come to a crossroads the next two years. >> andrew sullivan, thank you so much. throughout this evening, we've noted the changes from just two years ago, it's a huge turn around from that wave of optimism that followed president obama's election here in the u.s., but what about around the world? we asked a few of our correspondents to weigh in on this issue and we began with the bbc's duncan kennedy who is in rome. >> the united states and italy have relations going back beyond the mid 19th century even before italy was a unified state. very strong relations have continued with president barack obama. there was a slight hiccup at

the beginning of his presidency and the italian prime minister silvio berlusconi appeared to make reference to the president's time and later berlusconi explained he had been understood. in the meantime president obama has been here with the g-8 summit and the two appeared to get on well. in the past months berlusconi confirmed the trip to afghanistan. although the initial excitement of president obama coming into office waned here just like elsewhere, the real mess sidge that he remains a very -- real esage is that he remains a very good friend. >> the victory was cheered in africa and kenya. obama's father, of course, was kenyan. wherever you go on this vast continent you can find shops named after the american president, obama sells. politicians have tried to gain inspiration from his political discord, too. there's one area where perhaps he's less popular is here in

sudan. the leaders were infuriated when he renewed u.s. sanctions on the company but in general the africans remained upbeat about president obama in a way perhaps many americans haven't. >> barack obama promised to make the middle east peace process one of its foreign policy priorities from day one. in terms of commitment, an almost infectious enthusiasm, he's arguably succeeded. despite some of the mistrust between palestinian and israeli leaders, president obama and his team managed to cajole them back to direct talks and the negotiating table at the start of september. but those talks are currently stalled over the issue of illegal jewish settlement on the palestinian west bank. mr. obama's view is that continued building in the settlement doesn't help the peace process. and he is publicly urged the israeli government to extend its construction freeze. that substance -- that stance angered many on the israeli

right who see obama as pro-palestinian. poor results of obama in the midterm elections doesn't mean he'll take his eyes off the middle east. though he may be tied down domestically by a republican dominated congress he still thinks he can achieve something overseas. >> reporting from jerusalem with a view from around the world on these midterm elections. andrew sullivan, back to you. some of the bloom has gone off president obama here at home. there are questions now about him abroad as well. how much do these midterm elections, if the republicans, as it looks like, are doing well in the house of representatives, how much does it affect american foreign policy and obama's agenda and his policy of trying to reach out to other countries? >> not much i don't think. the president has a foreign policy agenda independent of the congress. in fact, he might argue since he's got most of his legislative stuff through already, he will be freer to go abroad. he's going to go on a trip to asia.

he's noticing that many of the countries around china are beginning to get worried. he's going to talk to them and he's going to indonesia, another big reach to the muslim world and i have a feeling if the israelis and palestinians do not come together he melee out america's on plan for a partition of israel and palestine. >> is it true when american presidents fail with their domestic agendas, the rest of the world beckons? you think that's what will happen to barack obama? >> no, but i reject the idea he's failed. he significantly won more legislative victories in these first two years than any president in memory. >> he's won the battle but has he won the war? >> he has a veto, and i think there's a lot of people in the country and they'll be looking to the republicans, especially their base. they have promised their base massive cuts in spending in government. if they can't deliver in two years, the base will revolt. they have a very tricky path ahead of them. >> andrew, we were talking about your role in the republican party. and of course we've spoken a lot about the tea party and is one of the big themes of this

midterm election. but do you see going forward fault lines emerging within the tea party between those who are more isolationists, people like rand paul who would cut defense spending, pull back the troops in afghanistan and people like sarah palin who are pro-military, pro-american might around the world, if i can put it that way. there is a security fault line there. >> there is. some of it comes down to simply money. the country's broke and people are conservative. exit polls show big opposition to the war in afghanistan. i don't think the republicans are going to run for putting more troops in afghanistan than obama is taking out or more troops in iraq. i think the republican base, especially the midwest and the old republican base is concerned of this reach abroad and when they're at home their infrastructure is crumbling and i see a shift. >> you think ted after afghanistan and after iraq, america now has lost the appetite for these kind of foreign ventures?

>> first of all, i take issue with your introduction. we are not after afghanistan. we are not after iraq. we are still incredibly engaged in both countries. what is astonishing to me is i don't think either iraq or afghanistan has played a role in these elections. i don't think anybody has voted on the basis of what's going on in afghanistan or what's going on in iraq? >> it's been one of the stunning things that's not been talked about in the war. when you look back at 2006 and how important that was in the midterm elections then. >> it will be, i suspect next time around because president obama is on the horns of an extraordinarily difficult dilemma. he has on the one hand described afghanistan as the necessary war. and on the other hand, he has suggested that next summer we are going to begin the process of disengaging, without explaining how it is that that war of necessity has become

less -- than it was before? >> david petrais, his senior commander has carved some doubt on that deadline and is saying now more recently it might take a little longer. >> not just a little bit. he's quoted -- >> understatement. >> understatement has its values but we're talking about a generational war now. the commander over there right now is talking about a war that is going to go on for generations. that's more than just a case of understanding. >> you really think they'll stay there that long? >> not 100,000 troops. but i think the united states is going to have a presence in afghanistan for many years to come, not because of afghanistan, but because of pakistan, the nuclear weapons and the islamic fundamentalism that seems to be gaining strength with every passing month. >> it there will twob things, weather and whether the economy -- >> we'll come back to that in one minute. we can go, first of all to neil collins, abc news, in alaska.

neil, since when did alaska become the ground zero of american politics? >> since when is right. no one around here has seen anything like this and you have a threeway race right now and it's anyone's guess. if joe miller the tea party candidate who looked like he had the whole thing locked up and lisa murkowski the sitting republican senator who is reduced to a write-in candidate but according to a lot of observers here she has the lead and then you have the little known democrat scott mcadams and he could be the spoiler when all the dust settles and two republicans, according to some possibly cancel each other out he could find himself a seat in the u.s. senate. >> there's a little bit of a tribal war going on between the palin family and murkowski family. >> it is alaska. >> of course but aren't people in alaska proud they launched sarah palin on the national stage despite they might have differences with their parties in this election? >> palin is a little bit of a

touchy subject when you talk to people out here. when you're at a palin rally, her diehard supporters want to see her run in 2012 and they're happy to see everything she does. however, when you talk to the average voter on the street, there is a bit of palin fatigue. you hear people talking about the fact she left alaska and gone out on her own to take care of herself and left this state behind. and some people are quite frankly a little sensitive to the fact that palin's name has become synonymous with alaska and alaskan politics. >> neil, thank you very much, indeed. ted, what do you make of it all? >> well, i'm reminded of what one of your most famous politicians once said after a dinner at which he was not crazy about dessert, winston churchill turned to his hostess and said, madam, this pudding has no theme. i suspect we'll see a little bit of that over these next few months. i'm not sure what the theme of the pudding is at this point. it is not altogether clear that

the republicans will be all that happy with what happened this evening. it looks like a victory in the house for them. but they may reach the point where they regret the fact they got it because they're going to get some of the responsibility now for these problems, which i said at the beginning of the evening, and nothing caused me to change my mind. those problems are in tractable. the economy, afghanistan, the health care program, all of these things are issues that i don't think are going to be resolved with this kind of a congress. >> one of the themes, ted, that does exist here in this campaign is the nastiness of the television ads, which you've been looking at. >> yes. >> are there nice ads out there? >> if there are we certainly aren't going to show them to you this evening. i think you need to take a look at what has, at least in my view, and i've been covering american politics for almost 50 years now, was probably the dirtiest campaign and certainly the most expensive campaign in my experience, $3 billion spent

on -- take a look. >> voting record is pretty hard -- >> once again, we're about to learn how effective political ads are. >> meet toomey, pennsylvania's most right wing congressman. >> why did rand paul once tie a woman up? >> reid voted to use taxpayer dollars to pay for viagra. >> around the country we'll soon know who won and who lost. >> martin o'malley is taxing me like i'm rich. >> but as you consider the results, contemplate this, attack ads are considered so successful that almost every candidate uses them. >> you deserve a senator that will tell the truth. >> but alexei doesn't. >> they are nasty, misleading, embarrassing. >> he wants to force raped women to bear the child. >> the candidates approve them because of the universally held belief that attack ads work. >> i'm michael bennett. >> i'm mark kirk. >> i'm marco rubio and i

approve this message. >> soon in what will be regarded as the good old days, we used to know who was behind those ads. they admitted it. >> i approve this ad. >> and you'd like to think that every once in a while a candidate would be greeted at home by a principled 9-year-old who would say, you're really getting down in the gutter, aren't you, dad? but now, thanks to that recent supreme court decision granting corporations the same rights of political free speech once reserved only for individuals, now we get to keep all that was bad in the worst of those attack ads. >> tell senator murray ouch. >> without ever knowing who approved them or paid for them. oh, sure, the organizations have names. >> american action network is responsible for the content of this advertising. >> patriotic, uplifting sorts of names that totally conceal the identity of the individual or organization behind them. why don't we just cut out all

the intermediate stages and move right on to the inevitable. the biggest and most lucrative lottery of all time. any citizen can run for any office for which he or she is eligible, it's $1,000 a ticket. you can buy as many as you can afford. it all goes to reducing the national debt. or we can just let things going the way they're going. either way, you're in for a treat. >> you can stop there, ted. is there any evidence that all the money spent on the ads actually get people elected or is it the kind of thing that makes candidates feel good about their campaign? >> i must tell you, the only truly unambiguously good news of this evening is that meg whitman and linda mcmahon who between the two of them have spent i think close to $200 million of their own money, it appears both of them are going to lose. that's awfully good news. not that i hold anything

against either woman but i can't stand the idea of someone using his or her personal fortune to buy a senate seat or gubernatorial seat. >> i point out the fact the last british general election cost a grand total of $73 million, which i think gives us bargain basement democracy in britain, there are sort of astonished, unbelieving and also excited at the idea that that is possible. >> well, it's possible only if you limit the length of your campaigns, as you do in the u.k. and in this country, what you're seeing here tonight is the beginning of the 2012 presidential campaign. >> exactly. the last one cost $5 billion and the last one could be more expensive. here's emily with thoughts on money. >> i'm going to pick up where ted left off, actually, and look at that race. linda mcmahon lost and spent about $40 million of her own money there and that feeds into a little bit about what we're

seeing in the governor's race. we haven't had this absolutely confirmed yet but the understanding is that you're saying that meg whitman, the c.e.o. of ebay who spent about $160 billion pounds on this race has not managed to pull it off, losing, to joey brown who has been a two-time governor who can play, if you like the novice in politics, the little guy, isn't that extraordinary, to someone who held that role before. one more we'll keep an eye on, rick scott. we know he's not only spent his money but quite a lot of his wife's money, around $40 billion or so there. health care is up against chief financial officer here. very, very interesting to see if this one goes the other way or whether we will end the night saying actually money doesn't buy you those seats. >> well, there we go. >> it isn't the money issue and how americans now assume that there will be these vast sums, and it's very hard to see what actually will stop this, that

this wave is going to carry on the floodgates now open to unlimited amounts of money in american politics. we saw it this time around and will see it more in 2012, it's just going to keep growing. >> hello and welcome. >> see the news unfold. get the top stories from around the globe and tape to play video reports, go to bbc got com/news to experience the in-depth reporting of bbc world news online. >> funding was made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu, newman's own foundation, the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. and union bank.

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