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

VIRGINIA BEACH, Virginia (Reuters) -Betty Snellenberg and Grace Cook stood on opposite sides of the walkway into the early voting center in Virginia Beach - one promoting the Democratic ticket for the November 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. A long shutdown could severely damage the economy of the Hampton Roads area of Virginia, home to multiple military installations, including the world's largest naval base in Norfolk and a base for fighter jets in Virginia Beach.