Welcome, I'm Anastasia Glova bringing you the Cato Daily Podcast.

Full and edited versions of our podcasts are available on our website at

W.W. Kato.org.

This electoral season has spelled doom for many an incumbent running for re-election.

With several elections already lost to new candidates and races in Hawaii, Pennsylvania, and

Connecticut under threat from challengers, American politicians may be

witnessing an anti-incumbent backlash. Director of Government Affairs Brandon Arnold discusses the

trend in today's podcast.

There seems to be an anti-incumbent backlash this electoral season.

Why is this happening?

Well, I think there's a lot of problems that people in America are concerned about right

now.

Obviously, the big one is Iraq.

Right now, 55 to 60 percent of people. about right now.

Now, 55 to 60 percent of people are unhappy with what's going on in Iraq.

I think people, whether it's accurate or not, think that the economy is progressing poorly,

there may be some disagreement from economists there. I think most economists think it's a little bit stronger than the general public does, but a lot of these big issues, people just aren't very optimistic about the path that our country is on, and I think they're going to take that out on

the politicians this November.

And who are the politicians whose races are in danger?

Well there's a lot of politicians that are currently in danger.

They're actually talking about this as being a year that could rival 1994 and the number of seats that switch parties or switch hands.

There's already been some big names that have lost, a name that might not be known nationally, but is certainly known up in the Midwest is Joe Schwartz.

...