The main event on Tuesday will be choosing 435 congressional representatives, 33 senators and 36 governors, many of whom have waged uncommonly hard-fought contests during a year when Americans say they are frustrated with the difficult war in Iraq and President George W. Bush’s dominant Republican party.

In many states, activists on the left and right hope turnout for certain ballot measures will have a spillover effect on crucial races in the battle for control of Congress. Liberals see a boost for Democrats if low-income voters mobilise on behalf of steps to raise the state minimum wage in Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Montana, Nevada and Ohio.

Conservatives hope a court ruling last week in New Jersey that ordered equal rights for same-sex couples will trigger a backlash aiding Republican candidates in the eight states with ban-gay-marriage amendments on their ballots: Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia and Wisconsin.

Missouri is a battlefront in the debate over smoking; along with South Dakota and California, it has a hefty increase in tobacco taxes on its ballot. In California alone the two big tobacco majors, Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds, have spent more than $56 million fighting a tax that would boost the average price of a cigarette pack to $6.55.

Even more money—a record of $133 million—has been raised in the fight over California’s Proposition 87, which would tax companies drilling for oil in the state to raise $4 billion to promote alternative fuels and energy-efficient vehicles. To compete against the oil companies, which have contributed more than $80 million, Hollywood producer Stephen Bing single-handedly gave $43 million o the environmentalist coalition supporting the tax.

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