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Contact:	Robert Schmermund (202) 857-3104 Jim Eberle (202) 857-3145	Jim Eberle (202) 857-3145 (work) (703) 893-2593 (home) [email protected]	For Immediate Release November 5, 2002 #02-56
E-mail: [email protected]

COMMUNITY BANKERS PREDICT STATUS QUO FOR BOTH HOUSES OF CONGRESS

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SAN FRANCISCO — Community bankers by a narrow margin expect voters to maintain the status quo in Tuesday’s congressional elections, leaving the Senate in Democrats’ hands and the House of Representatives in the Republican column, according to a spot poll released at the annual convention of America’s Community Bankers here. ACB is the national trade group for community banks.

Forty-nine percent of ACB members responding to the survey said they expected the election to yield no change in the control of Congress. But a sizable 40 percent predicted both chambers would go to the Republicans.

The poll, conducted by fax overnight Oct. 29-30, asked bankers to predict the outcome of the House and Senate races, not to say how they would vote.

Bankers interviewed in San Francisco were keeping a particularly close eye on the Senate. The recent death of Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-Minn.) left the chamber evenly divided, with 49 Republicans, 49 Democrats, one Independent, and a Republican vice president who can vote to break any ties.

In that battleground state, United Bankers Bancorp president and chief executive officer William Rosacker expects a Republican victory for Norman Coleman, the former mayor of St. Paul. His eleventh-hour opponent, former Vice President and Sen. Walter Mondale, is mounting a brisk fight, “but I think Coleman might just pull it out,” said Rosacker, whose institution is based in Bloomington. He said Coleman’s roots in the Democratic party make him a compromise candidate.

ACB chairman-elect D. Russell Taylor, president and chief executive officer of Rahway Savings Institution in Rahway, N.J., said he expects the American public to vote in a Democratic Senate and a Republican House. “They want that balance,” he said.

His home state is host to another close contest. Taylor predicts Democratic candidate Frank Lautenberg, a former three-term Senator, will prevail, “even though it looked for a while like [Republican candidate Douglas] Forrester would take it.” Lautenberg entered the race after incumbent Sen. Robert Torricelli dropped out Sept. 30 amid ethics charges and plummeting poll ratings.

The balance in the Senate is “really too close to call,” said John H. “Jock” Pearson Jr., president and chief executive officer of Butler Bank in Lowell, Mass. Pearson, a Republican, said that worries about a war with Iraq and concerns about the economy could keep many voters in play until they step into the polling booth.

“The Republicans do have a chance at the Senate,” said Tony D. Whitaker, president and chief executive officer of First Federal Savings and Loan Association of Hazard, Ky. Whitaker, a Republican, gave the GOP good odds of picking up Senate seats in Georgia and Missouri and predicted his home state would return Republican Mitch McConnell to the Senate for a fourth term with a 60 percent share of the vote. The midterm election is important because “it is a referendum on the presidency,” Whitaker added.

A handful of ACB respondents — 7 percent — thought both chambers of Congress would go to the Democrats. As one jotted on the poll form, “It’s the economy, stupid!” Four percent predicted the chambers would flip-flop, with Republicans taking back the Senate and the Democrats winning the House.

Most political analysts consider a Democratic House win to be a long shot. Republicans currently hold 223 House seats and Democrats hold 208, with one independent and three vacancies making up the balance.

America’s Community Bankers is the national trade association committed to shaping the future of banking by being the innovative industry leader strengthening the competitive position of community banks. To learn more about ACB, visit www.AmericasCommunityBankers.com.

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