As shutdown drags on, US voters see blame game threatening Democrats and Republicans

Betty Snellenberg and Grace Cook stood on opposite sides of the walkway into the early voting centre in Virginia Beach -- one promoting the Democratic ticket for the Nov 4 statewide election, the other distributing pamphlets for the Republican nominees. Flanking the entrance, the two women embodied the country's partisan split as a days-old government shutdown threatened to cleave the political left and right further apart, with each side blaming the other for the paralysis in Washington. Yet Snellenberg and Cook shared a common concern: their parties risk losing the messaging war if the shutdown goes on for weeks or months, especially in an area of their state so dependent on civil service and military jobs. Tens of thousands of...