A Guide To All The Candidates

Less than two years ago, the voting public undertook one of the most thorough housecleanings in American political history. In one giant electoral heave-ho in November 1994, voters threw out dozens of Democratic members of the House and Senate and gave the Republican party control over Congress for the first time in 40 years. Newt Gingrich, a five-term congressman from Georgia, was given credit for orchestrating the "revolution" and grandly predicted a makeover of the federal government and a new era of governance.

That makeover never happened. After a high-profile "100 days" that saw Gingrich lead his new Congress, including a record 70 freshmen Republicans in the House, through a dizzying array of legislative changes -- from eliminating the House barbershop to stopping increased federal spending for education -- the promised revolution proved elusive. And, in one of the more illuminating political ironies of the 104th Congress, it was a bread-and-butter conservative issue -- the federal budget -- which derailed the anti-government locomotive that Gingrich and his rebels rode to power. Suddenly the 1996 election, which was supposed to consolidate the Republican grip on power by taking back the presidency, threatened to be another congressional housecleaning. Further complicating this year's congressional vote is the record-setting number of retirements by incumbents, many of whom held seats considered "safe" by their party's leaders.

Such sudden realignments may be as much a sign of turbulence within the electorate as symbol of the polarization of Congress. But whether spurred by a fickle populace or by the fatigue of congressional moderates, this year's battle for the hearts and minds of the American electorate promises to be one of the most volatile and unpredictable in recent decades.

To help you when you go to the polls, AllPolitics and TIME magazine, in collaboration with Congressional Quarterly, offers this easy-to-use guide to the races for the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives in your region.

Just pick your state and find the races that are important to you.

For an explanation of the issues to wich the candidates responded, click here

This project was created by a collaboration of TIME and Congressional Quarterly

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