Key GOP Losses Could Change Financial Overhaul

Damian Paletta reports on Election Day and the financial markets. The defeat of several well-known House and Senate Republicans could have an impact on next year’s effort to overhaul the financial markets, a top priority for Washington. Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R., N.C.) has been an active member of the Senate Banking Committee and one of the panel’s few Republicans to vote against the housing rescue package this summer that set up a new regulator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Sen. John Sununu (R., N.H.), another fierce critic of the giant mortgage companies, also lost his re-election bid Tuesday night, removing an outspoken congressional voice on financial market issues. In the House, at least two highly visible Republicans on the Financial Services Committee were defeated: Rep. Chris Shays of Connecticut, a top Republican on the panel who had broken with his party on several occasions to side with committee Chairman Barney Frank (D., Mass.), and Rep. Tom Feeney of ... (link)