Democrats ride wave of discontent to victory

Democrats took the House yesterday but appeared to narrowly miss the chance to take control… Democrats took the House yesterday but appeared to narrowly miss the chance to take control of the Senate, marking a modest end to the era of easy Republican dominance in the nation’s legislative body.

In an election mired by Republican corruption scandals, many expected the results to reflect the distaste for the Republicans and particularly the Bush administration’s war in Iraq. In what, for many voters, became a symbolic referendum on the increasingly unpopular war, several Republican legislators found themselves fighting for their jobs against Democratic challengers, who emphasized the incumbents’ ties with the president.

There were several competitive races in the House this year. Here is a look at the projected results of a handful of key races that shaped the outcome of the election in the Senate. Pennsylvania – Third-ranking Republican Senator and social conservative Rick Santorum was defeated in Pa., by Bob Casey, the Democratic state treasurer. Casey, himself a social conservative, appealed to typically Republican voters with a focus on the unpopularity of the Iraq War and Santorum’s support of the President. Ohio – Republican incumbent Sen. Mike DeWine lost after trailing in the polls to Democrat Sherrod Brown, a representative to the state’s 13th district. Rhode Island – Moderate Republican Lincoln Chaffee, who voted against the war in Iraq, was unable to convince voters in his heavily Democratic state to keep him in office, and was defeated by challenger Sheldon Whitehouse. Virginia – Incumbent Republican George Allen, the Va. senator known by some for posing with Confederate flags, found himself in hot water after welcoming an American-born man of Indian descent to America. Allen accused his challenger James Webb of sexism for passages written in Webb’s military novels. Allen appeared to have an extremely narrow lead at press time. Tennessee – Congressman Harold Ford, a Democrat, competed against Republican Bob Corker in the race for a Senate seat vacated by Republican Bill Frist. Ford was looking to become the first black senator from the South since the Reconstruction era. Corker, who was criticized for making what some thought were racist remarks about his opponent in campaign ads, appeared to be winning at press time. Montana – Conrad Burns, an 18-year Republican incumbent, was fighting desperately to keep his seat against Democratic challenger Jon Tester. The race was too close to call at press time. Missouri – Democratic challenger Claire McCaskill was looking to unseat Republican James Talent, using embryonic stem cell research as the focus of her campaign. The race was too close to call at press time.

A (Relatively) New Beginning The seats in the House give the Democrats control of the body for the first time since 1994, when the Republicans won a huge victory of 54 seats in the House and eight seats in the Senate, leaving them in charge of the House for the first time in 40 years.

Using a document titled the “Contract With America,” the Republican Party outlined on a national level their plans for legislation, which included cutting taxes, shrinking the size of the government and welfare reform.

The Republican-dominated legislature, led by Newt Gingrich, was met with opposition from then-president Bill Clinton but continued to be reelected in subsequent years.

In 2001, an evenly divided Senate shifted briefly to control of the Democrats, but returned to the Republicans following the 2002 midterm elections, ensuring Republican control of both the House and Senate during most of President Bush’s administration. The Democrats’ gains in yesterday’s election mark a change in control of the House and their increasing importance in the Senate.

A Tentative Future In the last few weeks of the campaign, the Republicans’ rallying cry to “stay the course” began to fall apart in the face of the Democrats’ proposed “time for a change,” with several Republican candidates distancing themselves from the president and admitting that some policy changes needed to be made with regard to Iraq.

Their concessions may have underscored the nation’s anti-war sentiment, but that doesn’t mean that a Democratic Congress led by Nancy Pelosi will be passing legislation to bring home the troops anytime soon.