Anxious Working Class Is Largely Overlooked By Congress

By Cynthia TuckerSat Nov 12, 8:12 PM ET

Reeling from last week's off-year elections, Republicans are binding their wounds and analyzing their defeats, hoping to recover by next year when congressional seats are in play. Even Virginia, usually a GOP stronghold, picked Democrats for several key posts. For their part, jubilant Democrats think it's a political D-Day: They're on the beach and ready to move inland.

Both parties believe they know the causes of voter resentment: the war in Iraq, soaring budget deficits, high energy costs and a certain whiff of malfeasance emanating not just from Congress (Tom Delay under indictment; Bill Frist under investigation), but also from the White House (Scooter Libby under indictment; Karl Rove under investigation). Indeed, polls show that all those are sources of discontent.