WASHINGTON – George Walker Bush’s sweeping victory on Tuesday, coupled with GOP gains in the… WASHINGTON – George Walker Bush’s sweeping victory on Tuesday, coupled with GOP gains in the Senate and the House of Representatives, suggests Republicans may be building a sustainable majority that could dominate American politics.

Bush claimed a second term as president with the biggest vote total of any president in American history. He amassed 51 percent of the popular vote after three straight presidential elections in which the winner failed to win a majority. Bush’s Electoral College margin was close but clear at 279-252.

Republicans also tightened their grip on the House and the Senate, boosting their majorities and seizing more power over the nation’s agenda at home and abroad. Their Senate strength also could help Bush appoint more conservative jurists to the Supreme Court, where Chief Justice William Rehnquist is suffering from thyroid cancer and several elderly justices are expected to retire within a few years.

Bush built his coalition with an appeal to preserve traditional moral values and America’s safety in a threatening world. He broke down some of the economic and class lines that had separated Democrats from Republicans for decades, instead building a coalition along cultural and social lines to include married people, churchgoers and those who ranked moral issues as their top concern, above even terrorism or the economy.

“America has spoken, and I’m humbled by the trust and the confidence of my fellow citizens,” Bush, 58, said Wednesday with his wife, Laura, and their two daughters at his side. “With that trust comes a duty to serve all Americans, and I will do my best to fulfill that duty every day as your president.”

Bush claimed victory several hours after Kerry called him shortly after 11 a.m. to concede. The Democrat later appeared publicly in Boston to make it official.

“I did my best to express my vision and my hopes for America,” Kerry, 60, said in Boston’s historic Faneuil Hall to an audience that included his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, and his two daughters.

“We worked hard, and we fought hard, and I wish that things had turned out a little differently. But in an American election, there are no losers, because whether or not our candidates are successful, the next morning we all wake up as Americans.”

He urged Bush to help bridge the bitter gulf dividing Americans and called for his followers to do the same.

“In the days ahead, we must find common cause, we must join in common effort, without remorse or recrimination, without anger or rancor,” Kerry said. “America is in need of unity and longing for a larger measure of compassion. I hope President Bush will advance those values in the coming years.”

Kerry decided to concede the hard-fought contest once it became clear Wednesday morning it was statistically impossible for him to overcome Bush’s popular-vote lead in Ohio – and thus impossible to win the Electoral College and the election.

Bush led Kerry by more than 3.5 million votes nationwide. His 51 percent popular-vote majority erased the shadow that followed his 2000 victory, when he won the Electoral College after the U.S. Supreme Court stopped a recount in Florida, but lost the popular vote to Democrat Al Gore by more than 500,000.

Of four Americans who have been elected president while losing the popular vote, Bush is the first to win a second term.

He carried the Electoral College by winning all but one of the states he won in 2000, losing only New Hampshire and its four electoral votes. That left him with at least 274 Electoral College votes, four more than necessary.

Only Iowa, with seven electoral votes, remained too close to call Wednesday. Iowa could add to Bush’s total if it switched to him after voting Democratic in 2000, but that would not change the election’s outcome.

Republicans also added to their majorities in the House and Senate. They defeated Sen. Tom Daschle of South Dakota, the Senate Democratic leader and a symbol of Democratic opposition to Bush’s agenda. It was the first time in 52 years a Senate leader of either party was turned out of office. They also swept five Southern Senate seats from the Democrats, ending with a net gain of four and a majority of 55 in the 100-member body.

Vice President Dick Cheney said the Republican victories added up to a clear message from Americans.

“President Bush ran forthrightly on a clear agenda for this nation’s future, and the nation responded by giving him a mandate,” Cheney said as he and Bush appeared at the Ronald Reagan federal building two blocks from the White House.

Bush paid homage to Kerry and reached out to Americans who voted for him.

“Senator Kerry waged a spirited campaign, and he and his supporters can be proud of their efforts,” Bush said.

Looking ahead to the next four years, Bush said the United States would help the people of Afghanistan and Iraq make the transition to democracy, so “then our servicemen and women will come home with the honor they have earned.”

He said he would work with allies to combat terrorism. At home, he vowed to reform the tax code and Social Security and improve public education and the economy.

“Reaching these goals will require the broad support of Americans, so today I want to speak to every person who voted for my opponent,” Bush said. “To make this nation stronger and better, I will need your support and I will work to earn it. I will do all I can do to deserve your trust.

“A new term is a new opportunity to reach out to the whole nation. We have one country, one Constitution and one future that binds us.”

Kerry congratulated Bush but did not back down from his agenda, promising to continue to fight for better relations with U.S. allies, more jobs at home, affordable health care and more-stringent protection of the environment.

Kerry retains his Senate seat, where he represents Massachusetts. He urged his supporters not to harbor ill feelings, particularly since the country is at war.

“I know this is a difficult time for my supporters,” he said. “Now more than ever, with our soldiers in harm’s way, we must stand together and succeed in Iraq and win the war on terror.”

Abroad, some foreign leaders applauded Bush for his leadership of the international assault on terrorism; others hoped he would do more to work with them than he had in the past.

“Bush will continue with the policy that assigns the United States the role of defender and promoter of freedom and democracy,” said Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

“I can only feel joy that the American people did not allow itself to be intimidated and made the most sensible decision,” said Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The two European leaders coolest toward Bush, French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, said they hoped Bush would work with them.

“We will not be able to come up with satisfactory responses to the many challenges we face today without a strong transatlantic partnership,” Chirac said.

“I will continue the good and close cooperation that we have,” said Schroeder. “This is in the interests of the United States as well as those of Germany and Europe.”

—

(c) 2004, Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.

—–

PHOTOS (from KRT Photo Service, 202-383-6099): ELECTION-BUSH, ELECTION-KERRY

GRAPHICS (from KRT Graphics, 202-383-6064)