- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans
consolidated their hold on the U.S. government on Wednesday after a historic
sweep of both chambers of Congress gave President Bush new power to enact
his agenda.
-
- Republicans added to their newly won control of the Senate
and although the exact level of their victory was not yet totally clear,
it was extensive.
-
- Bush was given much of the credit for leading his Republicans
in winning control of both houses. Supporters immediately began promoting
his programs such as tax breaks, homeland security and appointing conservative
judges.
-
- The broad midterm election victory cast a long shadow
on the 2004 presidential campaign, further enhancing Bush's already high
popularity and muddling the prospects of the Democratic field.
-
- Republicans increased their control of the House of Representatives
by least three seats with a handful of races still undecided -- only the
third time in a century the party in the White House gained seats in the
midterm elections.
-
- Republicans were also assured of at least a two-seat
margin of power in the 100-seat Senate when former Democratic Vice President
Walter Mondale conceded defeat in the Minnesota race he entered only at
the last minute after incumbent Paul Wellstone died in a plane crash.
-
- The margin could increase. Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu
did not reach 50 percent of the vote in Louisiana and will face a Dec.
7 runoff.
-
- In South Dakota, Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson declared
himself the victor but with barely a 500-vote lead over Republican Rep.
John Thune, a recount was almost certain.
-
- BUSH INCREASES HIS AUTHORITY
-
- But even the slight edge in the Senate gave Bush the
chance to increase his authority to wage a military campaign against Iraq
and push initiatives to make his tax cut permanent, create a new Homeland
Security Department and get his federal judicial nominees confirmed.
-
- "I think it was a referendum on his (Bush's) leadership
and he really showed it," said Republican Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi,
who will become Senate majority leader.
-
- "The American people said, 'Yes, we trust this man
and we want to have a Congress that will work with him and will get some
things done,"' Lott told NBC's "Today."
-
- Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle, a South Dakota
Democrat who will move to the minority, agreed the election was a referendum
on Bush, but added it was also a vote on the war on terror, Iraq and other
national security concerns.
-
- "I think it means that the president has an opportunity
here to enact and proceed with the plan (on Iraq) as he has articulated
it," Daschle said on NBC. "I think the American people appear
now to give him the benefit of the doubt."
-
- Bush called many of the winning Republicans to congratulate
them but made no public appearances himself. His spokesman Ari Fleischer
quoted him as telling the White House staff on Wednesday, "The credit
goes to the candidates and those who focused on changing the tone."
-
- Bush spent the last five days of the campaign traveling
across the land in support of Republican candidates in 15 states. Even
Democrats had to agree his visits played a major role in the Republicans'
eventual victory
-
- "Ultimately we could not compete with the power
of the bully pulpit and a wartime president," said Sen. Patty Murray
of Washington who heads the Senate Democratic campaign committee. "Now
Republicans will have to deliver on the issues on which they campaigned."
-
- SOME SUCCESSES FOR DEMOCRATS
-
- Democrats did have some successes, especially in the
state governor's races, where the power, prestige and fund-raising ability
often helps candidates running for president.
-
- Democrats might end up with half the governorships, including
ones in the large industrial states of Illinois, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
They held onto the governor's job in California, the nation's largest state,
even though polls showed Gov. Gray Davis was highly unpopular.
-
- But even in the governor's races, Bush's presence was
notable. His brother Jeb Bush was reelected easily as governor in Florida
and Republicans picked up several governorships, including in the southern
states Georgia and South Carolina.
-
- Republicans also broke Democratic control of state houses
in Maryland and Hawaii, where Democrats had ruled for 36 and 40 years respectively.
In Maryland, Democratic Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, daughter of
slain Sen. Robert Kennedy, was upset by Republican Rep. Bob Ehrlich .
-
- The across-the-country success of the Republicans could
only enhance Bush's White House reelection chances in 2004. His sustained
popularity after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on America was already close
to unprecedented.
-
- Bush became only the third president in a century to
gain House seats in a midterm election after Democrats Franklin Roosevelt
in 1934 and Bill Clinton in 1998. Bush was the first president to gain
Senate seats at midterm since Republican Ronald Reagan in 1982.
-
- For Democrats, the results further clouded an already
uncertain 2004 presidential picture. Both Daschle and House Leader Richard
Gephardt had been considered major contenders but neither was enhanced
by Tuesday's results and could face challenges over their congressional
leadership.
-
- Under their leadership, Democrats failed to retain their
one-seat edge in the Senate or make any inroads into the Republicans six-seat
lead in the House.
-
- Their first problems may arise next week when Congress
returns for a post-election session. While there was talk about tackling
issues like homeland security and presidential appointments, many observers
thought the session would deal mostly with funding the government.
-
- Even the makeup of the session was in doubt. Republicans
were sure to push for an early swearing-in of former Rep. James Talent
who defeated Democratic Sen. Jean Carnahan to fill out the rest of the
term she was appointed to after he husband died in 2000.
-
- And the role of independent Dean Barkley, who was appointed
by Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura to replace Wellstone, kept control up in
the air too. He said he would take his time to decide which party, if either,
he would vote with.
-
- A number of the new faces coming to Congress are actually
very familiar in Washington.
-
- The new Republican senators include Elizabeth Dole, a
two-time Cabinet member and wife of former Republican presidential candidate
Bob Dole, in North Carolina; Lamar Alexander, another former Cabinet member
and two-time presidential candidate, in Tennessee, and John Sununu, a congressman
who is the son of a former White House chief of staff, in New Hampshire.
-
- Democrats were sending back former three-term Sen. Frank
Lautenberg, 78, who retired two years ago but jumped back into the race
to replace scandal-scarred Sen. Robert Torricelli on the ballot.
|
