Thread: Democrats take Montana seat(good election overview also)

Democrats take Montana seat, tie Senate
By The Associated Press and The Washington Post

Dems take House; Cantwell re-elected
We just got bluer

WASHINGTON – Democrats erased the Republican Senate majority today with a cliffhanger victory in Montana, hours after taking control of the House in an election that delivered a rebuke of GOP scandal, the Iraq war and the course of a nation.

With Democrats now assured of 50 Senate seats, the battle for outright control came down to Virginia, where the party's candidate, Jim Webb, held a small lead.

For Republicans, it was an election that started out grim and got only grimmer with the the new day. First, voters brought down the Republican House majority after 12 years in power, and gave Democrats a majority of governorships for the first time in just as long.

Then Senate control began slipping away, the narrow GOP majority ground down to nothing, protected only by Vice President Dick Cheney's tie-breaking vote if the contest ended at 50-50.

Democrats hoped to shape a 51-49 majority with a Virginia victory for Webb, a former Navy secretary under Ronald Reagan. Webb led by fewer than 9,000 votes out of more than 2.3 million cast, and with the margin so small and so much on the line, GOP Sen. George Allen was not conceding. If a recount is held it could take weeks to be conducted by a panel of judges.

Electoral officials were canvassing the unofficial results Wednesday, and both parties had teams ready to monitor and intervene in the event of a recount, anticipating the process could stretch into next month.

In Montana, Democrat Jon Tester, a organic grain farmer who lost three fingers in a meat grinder, prevailed in a protracted contest with three-term Sen. Conrad Burns, who was weakened politically by his ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

That meant the election of 48 Democratic senators as well as two Democratic-voting independents — Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut and Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was set to become the first woman speaker of the House. President George Bush, who had dismissed that possibility — saying in a recent interview, "That's not going to happen" — was seeking to adjust to the new political reality.

He called Pelosi this morning and invited her and Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., the second-ranking Democrat in the House to lunch Thursday at the White House.

"They had a very good conversation. He congratulated her on their wins," deputy White House press secretary Dana Perino said.

Bush also called a handful of other lawmakers and invited Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, to the White House on Friday for a meeting over coffee — an acknowledgement of the Democrats' upper hand in the contest for control of the upper house.

"In all of those calls, I would say there was a strong spirit of good will and the president said 'Congresses change, but issues don't,' " Perino said.

In taking the House, Democrats defeated Republican incumbents in every region of the country in midterm elections dominated by war, scandal and President Bush's leadership.

Democrats had picked up more than two dozen Republican-held House seats without losing any of their own. A number of seats in the 435-member House were still undecided so no final breakdown was available. But it appeared the Democrats would hold at least 227, nine more than needed for a majority.

The Associated Press said that trends in undecided races indicated the Democrats were likely to win 232 seats and the GOP 203 — a pickup of 30 seats for the Democrats.

Democrats won Senate eats in Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island, leaving Montana and Virginia as the keys to control of the upper chamber.

Tester, president of the Montana state senate, portrayed himself as a Washington outsider — a Western moderate Democrat who owns guns, opposes gay marriage and has a libertarian's suspicion of the anti-terrorism Patriot Act.

During the campaign, Tester hammered Burns for his ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and what Tester called the "culture of corruption" in Washington. Burns was a top recipient of campaign contributions from Abramoff, who pleaded guilty in January to corruption. Burns has since returned or donated about $150,000, and has maintained he did nothing wrong and was never influenced by Abramoff.

Burns, 71, first elected in 1988 as a folksy, backslapping outsider, was under siege because of his ties to Abramoff and because of his own gaffes — including an incident in which he cursed at firefighters.


With 99 percent of precincts reporting today, Tester had 194,914 votes, or 48.9 percent, and Burns had 193,179 votes, or 48.5 percent.


A candidate in Montana can request a recount at his own expense if the margin is within half of a percent, which would be a margin of roughly 2,000 votes in the Montana U.S. Senate race. If the margin is less than one-quarter of a percent, the state and counties pick up the tab.


Tester, the state Senate president and a farmer, sounded confident in early morning television interviews. "I like the position we are in, I think we are going to win," Tester told CNN.


In Virginia, Allen, the Republican incumbent, trailed former Navy secretary James Webb by fewer than 6,900 votes.

"The votes are in and we won," Webb said. With 99 percent of precincts reporting, Webb had 1,170,564 votes, or 49.6 percent, to Allen's 1,162,717, or 49.3 percent.


A final count, including all absentee ballots, was expected later today.


There are no automatic recounts in Virginia, but state law allows a candidate who finishes a half-percentage point or less behind to request a recount paid for by state and local governments.


With a margin greater than that but less than 1 percentage point, the trailing candidate can still seek a recount but has to pay the costs if the results are unchanged. Either way, a recount could not begin until after the State Board of Elections certifies the results Nov. 27; the losing candidate has 10 after that to request a recount.


Both parties have teams that plan to monitor and intervene in the event of a recount, anticipating the process could stretch into next month.

Democrats also scored heavily in gubernatorial races, picking up at least seven states to claim a majority of 28 of 50 state houses nationally.

The upheaval in the House and the changing balance in the Senate signaled a dramatic power shift in Washington that will alter the final two years of Bush's presidency, with resurgent Democrats expected to challenge the administration on its domestic priorities and the Iraq war.

Pelosi joined other Democratic leaders at a boisterous rally just after midnight and sounded themes that others in her party echoed throughout the night.

"Today the American people voted for change and they voted for Democrats to take our country in a new direction, and that is exactly what we intend to do," she said. "The American people voted for a new direction to restore civility and bipartisanship in Washington, D.C., and Democrats promise to work together in a bipartisan way for all Americans."

House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, R.-Ill, won re-election but acknowledged the inevitable when he told supporters in Illinois, "It's kind of tough out there."

Republicans lost almost regardless of their ideology or support for the president. Conservative Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., the most vulnerable incumbent throughout the year, was the first senator to fall, losing to state Treasurer Robert P. Casey Jr. Not long after, Ohio Republican Sen. Mike DeWine, known for working across party lines, fell to Rep. Sherrod Brown after being caught up in the undertow of state GOP scandals, economic woes and the impact of the Iraq war on Buckeye State voters.

Then came Rhode Island, where Sen. Lincoln D. Chafee, the son of a beloved former senator and one of the most liberal Republicans in Washington, lost to former attorney general Sheldon Whitehouse in a state where Bush's popularity is among the lowest in the nation.

Early this morning, Missouri state Auditor Claire McCaskill, a Democrat, defeated Sen. James M. Talent in one of the year's closest races.

But in Tennessee, Republicans claimed one of the other premier races when former Chattanooga's Republican mayor Bob Corker defeated Rep. Harold E. Ford Jr. in the election to succeed retiring Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist.

In one of the most-watched Senate races, Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, who lost the Democratic primary to businessman Ned Lamont because of his support for the war and the president, turned the tables and easily won re-election.

In New York, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton rolled up a big margin as she cruised to a re-election victory that is widely seen as a step toward a Democratic presidential campaign in 2008.

In New Jersey, appointed Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez overcame a challenge from state Sen. Thomas H. Kean Jr., robbing Republicans of a seat that not long ago they thought they might be able to win. In Minnesota, a newcomer, Hennepin County Attorney Amy Klobuchar, held onto the seat of a retiring Democratic senator. In Maryland,Democratic Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin was the winner over Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele in the contest to succeed retiring Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes, a kDemocrat.

In Massachusetts, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy won an eighth term. Democrats also held Senate seats in Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Michigan, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin. In Vermont, Rep. Bernard Sanders, an independent who plns to caucus with the Democrats, won the seat of retiring Independent Sen. James M. Jeffords.

Republicans held on to their Senate seats in Arizona, Indiana, Maine, Mississippi, Texas, Utah and Wyoming.

House results trickled in at first and then came in a torrent. Some of the most prominent Republicans were among the losers last night.

One was Rep. Nancy L. Johnson of Connecticut, who won her first race in 1982 when Republicans were losing two dozen districts. She lost to state Sen. Chris Murphy. In Kentucky, Rep. Anne M. Northup has been targeted by Democrats in virtually every election but until last night was a survivor. She was defeated by John Yarmuth, editor of an alternative newspaper.

In Iowa, Rep. Jim Leach, who was not considered particularly vulnerable, lost to Dave Loebsack in a district that Sen. John F. Kerry won in the 2004 presidential election.

In Florida, Rep. E. Clay Shaw Jr., one of the most powerful Republicans in the House, lost his re-election bid to state Sen. Ron Klein. Republicans also lost the seat of former congressman Mark Foley, who resigned in disgrace over sexually explicit Internet messages sent to a former House page.

In Arizona, Rep. J.D. Hayworth, one of the GOP's most vocal and visible conservatives and a hard-liner on immigration, lost his re-election bid to former state senator Harry Mitchell. The Arizona Republic newspaper had endorsed Mitchell, referring to Hayworth as a "bully."

Republicans lost the scandal-scarred seats of former congressman Robert W. Ney in Ohio and former House majority leader Tom DeLay in Texas. Scandal also contributed to the defeat of two Pennsylvania Republican incumbents, Rep. Curt Weldon, who lost to retired Navy Vice Adm. Joseph Sestak, and Rep. Don Sherwood, who fell to Christopher Carney.

The Northeast proved particularly difficult for Republicans. New Hampshire voters defeated both of their GOP incumbents. Only a few weeks ago, Reps. Charles Bass and Jeb Bradley appeared headed for reelection, but their races changed almost overnight. Bass was defeated by lawyer Paul Hodes, while Bradley lost to Carol Shea-Porter, a county chairman. She won a second straight upset last night after riding opposition to the war to a surprise primary victory.

In gubernatorial races , Democrats gained seven states and now control a majority nationwide. Big prizes included New York, where Attorney General Eliot L. Spitzer won handily against weak opposition, and Ohio, where Rep. Ted Strickland swamped Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell. In Massachusetts, Clinton administration assistant attorney general Deval Patrick defeated Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey, who was attempting to succeed Gov. Mitt Romney.

Republicans had controlled all three states for more than a decade.

Democrats picked up a Southern seat when Arkansas Attorney General Mike Beebe defeated Asa Hutchinson for the post of retiring Gov. Mike Huckabee. They also added to their impressive strength among governors in the Rocky Mountains when Denver prosecutor Bill Ritter defeated Rep. Bob Beauprez in Colorado.

In Minnesota, incumbent GOP Gov. Tim Pawlenty held off a challenge from Democratic Attorney General Mike Hatch and a third-party candidate.

A national exit poll of voters in House races, conducted by Edison/Mitofsky for the National Election Pool, showed Democrats carrying independent voters, who emerged this fall as a critically important constituency in the midterm elections, by a wide margin. Meanwhile, about 90 percent of Republicans and Democrats were supporting candidates from their own parties, but independents were siding decisively with Democrats.

The divides that have defined the nation's politics over the past two years shaped yesterday's vote, but those hostile to the Bush administration, unhappy with Congress or pessimistic about the direction of the country far outnumbered those who approve of the performance of Bush and Congress or who think the country is heading in the right direction.

Four in five voters who approve of Bush's performance were supporting Republicans in House races, while an equal number of those who disapprove of his performance were supporting Democrats. But those who disapprove of the way the president has handled his job outnumber those who approve by about three to two.

Voters cited a series of issues that were extremely important in determining their candidate preferences, according to the national exit poll. They were not asked the most important issue affecting their votes.

About four in 10 voters called corruption and scandals in government an important issue and said they were voting heavily for Democratic candidates in the House. Forty percent said that the issue of terrorism was extremely important in their vote and that they were narrowly supporting Republican House candidates.

About four in 10 also cited the economy and said they were backing Democratic House candidates by a wide margin. Iraq, which has dominated much of the fall debate, was another issue that about four in 10 called extremely important in their votes, and they were also heavily backing Democrats.

Immigration reform was an issue that Republicans counted on to help their candidates. The three in 10 who called immigration reform extremely important in determining their votes split in favor of GOP House candidates, but not by as much as Republicans may have hoped. The strongest support for Republican House candidates was from those who cited values issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage.

A national exit poll of voters in House races, conducted by Edison/Mitofsky for the National Election Pool, showed Democrats carrying independent voters, who emerged this fall as a critically important constituency in the midterm elections, by a wide margin. Meanwhile, about 90 percent of Republicans and Democrats were supporting candidates from their own parties, but independents were siding decisively with Democrats.

The divides that have defined the nation's politics over the past two years shaped yesterday's vote, but those hostile to the Bush administration, unhappy with Congress or pessimistic about the direction of the country far outnumbered those who approve of the performance of Bush and Congress or who think the country is heading in the right direction.

Four in five voters who approve of Bush's performance were supporting Republicans in House races, while an equal number of those who disapprove of his performance were supporting Democrats. But those who disapprove of the way the president has handled his job outnumber those who approve by about three to two.

Voters cited a series of issues that were extremely important in determining their candidate preferences, according to the national exit poll. They were not asked the most important issue affecting their votes.

About four in 10 voters called corruption and scandals in government an important issue and said they were voting heavily for Democratic candidates in the House. Forty percent said that the issue of terrorism was extremely important in their vote and that they were narrowly supporting Republican House candidates.

About four in 10 also cited the economy and said they were backing Democratic House candidates by a wide margin. Iraq, which has dominated much of the fall debate, was another issue that about four in 10 called extremely important in their votes, and they were also heavily backing Democrats.

Immigration reform was an issue that Republicans counted on to help their candidates. The three in 10 who called immigration reform extremely important in determining their votes split in favor of GOP House candidates, but not by as much as Republicans may have hoped. The strongest support for Republican House candidates was from those who cited values issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage.

Bush voted yesterday morning in Crawford, Tex., then flew back to Washington for a dinner with friends and aides. The group included first lady Laura Bush, White House Chief of Staff Joshua B. Bolten, top strategist Karl Rove, counselor Dan Bartlett, Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman, former commerce secretary Donald L. Evans and Bush friend Brad Freeman. After dinner, they watched election results come in upstairs in the White House residence.

The history of midterm elections put Republicans on the defensive from the start of the campaigns. The sixth year of two-term presidencies often has produced sizable losses and shifts in power in the House or Senate for the party controlling the White House. That was true in 1958, 1974 and 1986.

Dissatisfaction with the war and the administration compounded GOP worries, turning the campaign into a referendum on the president and his Iraq policies.

Bush's ratings began to slump more than a year ago and attitudes hardened after the administration's sluggish response to Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. By May of this year, the president's approval rating had plunged to 33 percent in a Washington Post-ABC News poll. Bush has struggled since to break 40 percent, and in the Post-ABC final preelection survey, his approval rating was 40 percent among all Americans and 43 percent among registered voters.

Even those numbers, however, were low by historical standards on the eve of midterm elections. Presidents hovering in the mid-40s or below at that point have seen their parties suffer major setbacks. That was the case for Bill Clinton in 1994, Ronald Reagan in 1982, Lyndon B. Johnson in 1966, and Harry S. Truman in 1946 and 1950. Jimmy Carter had an approval rating of 49 percent in 1978 and Democrats lost 15 House seats that year — precisely the number Democrats needed to gain yesterday to win the House.

At the beginning of September, Bush sought to shift the focus from Iraq to the campaign against terrorism. He used the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks to elevate his argument and throughout the campaign portrayed Democrats as weak on fighting terrorism. Most polls, however, showed the public far more focused on Iraq than on terrorism and until the very end expressed greater confidence in Democrats to deal with Iraq.

Unhappiness with the Republican-controlled Congress also contributed to the party's woes throughout most of the fall, with the 109th Congress recording some of the lowest approval ratings of any Congress in a decade.


Copyright © 2006 The Seattle Times Company

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/n ... lxn08.html

I guess Nancy and Hillary can go shopping for drapes together right?