Democrat Nancy Boyda and her husband, Steve, celebrate her 2006 victory over Republican Jim Ryun in the race for the 2nd Congressional District.

The dissatisfaction with the Iraq war helped turn Congress from red to blue last year, but it hasn’t done much for major policy shifts abroad or at home.

“There really has been a stalemate on a whole variety of issues,” said Joe Aistrup, head of Kansas State University’s political science department.

Along with the war, the issues at a standstill are immigration and health insurance for children.

“So many votes are going right down party lines,” said U.S. Rep. Nancy Boyda, D-Kan.

When talk comes up of the war’s effect on elections, fingers point to the 2006 2nd District Congressional race between Boyda and Republican Jim Ryun. Boyda was among the wave of Democrats who swept into Congress, defeating Ryun.

But Christian Morgan, executive director of the Kansas Republican Party, said his party can rebound.

“A lot of the negative effects of the war are not showing up on the front page anymore. When things aren’t showing up in the news, it tends not to show up in public debate,” Morgan said.