[Shaun]

Originally Posted by Lewis.

Not to sound stupid everyone. I'm quite into my history and that, although I've always been confused about the Mid-Term elections in America. What do they actually decide, trying to put it in the process of the UK elections, I'm guessing that it just decides how many seats each political party has. But does it mean that Barack Obama will not be president anymore?

With the UK we have Parliamentary elections - where MPs are voted for, and the result decides which political party is in power (this political party has already put forward a candidate for Prime Minister).

However in the US there's several different legislative bodies. There's the Senate, or 'Upper House', which I believe has one or two representatives per US State. I'm not really sure what they vote for or debate - but they have a big say in what the President is and isn't allowed to do. They also deal with Bills. (proposed laws)

Then there's the House of Representatives, which deals with more laws. But they have to be passed by the Senate.

It's almost like the difference between our House of Commons and House of Lords - except, the Senate is FAR more powerful than our Lords, and they're elected :P