Democrats captured four of the six Republican Senate seats they needed to take control of the Senate, winning critical contests in Ohio, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania and Missouri and inching closer Wednesday to erasing the Republican majority.
Seizing on voter discontent with President George Bush and the war in Iraq, Democrats mounted challenges for two remaining Republican-held seats in Virginia and Montana — and were ahead in both.
But in Virginia, Democratic challenger James Webb’s lead over Republican incumbent George Allen was razor thin and a recount was likely.
Republicans and Democrats both dispatched lawyers to Virginia to tally uncounted absentee ballots on Wednesday, as well as a canvass votes counted on Election Day.
The Democrats have won control of the House of Representatives, according to projections from United States television networks.
Two years after Bush was re-elected, the resurgent Democrats appear to have picked up the 15 seats they needed to recapture control of the 435-seat House for the first time since 1994.
The Republican House speaker, Dennis Hastert, said it had been a hard night for his party. ”We’ve watched some of those races in the east. It’s been tough out there,” he said.
He said he would make a fuller statement later on Wednesday.
Democrats have promised votes on much of their agenda within the first 100 hours of taking power in January. The programme includes new ethics rules, a rise in the minimum wage, reduced subsidies to the oil industry and improvements in border and port security. On Iraq, the Democrats can be expected to press for a phased withdrawal.
Howard Dean, the head of the Democratic party said: ”There is not a lot we can do to actually force the president to leave Iraq. But ultimately, we can have some influence, and I think you’ll see, certainly, an attempt by Democrats to change the direction.”
In the race for the Senate in New Jersey, a key Republican target, the Democratic incumbent, Robert Menendez, was re-elected much more easily than expected.
In Pennsylvania the Republicans lost Rick Santorum, the party’s third most senior senator and one of its most conservative members, when Bob Casey, the state treasurer, took the seat from him.
In Ohio, Sherrod Brown trounced the two-term Republican senator, Mike DeWine; and Lincoln Chafee, a Republican moderate, lost his Rhode Island Senate seat.
”We are on the brink of a great Democratic victory,” said representative Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat in line to become the first female leader of the House of Representatives.
In another first, Keith Ellison, a 43-year-old black lawyer and state representative, was set to be the first Muslim in Congress.
Elsewhere Hillary Clinton, who could be the Democratic presidential candidate in 2008, strolled to victory in her New York Senate race, while Democrat-turned-independent Joseph Lieberman beat the official Democratic candidate in Connecticut.
Voters cited the economy, government corruption and scandal as their main concerns, despite the importance of the war in Iraq.
Wednesday’s midterms are widely seen as a referendum on Bush, whose popularity has plummeted because of Iraq. About four in 10 voters said they approved of how Bush was handling his job, while slightly more said the same about Congress.
After doing some hard last-minute campaigning for Republican candidates, the president switched to cheerleading for democracy after casting his own vote in Texas.
Glitches delayed balloting in dozens of Indiana and Ohio precincts, and Illinois officials were swamped with calls from voters complaining that poll workers did not know how to operate new electronic equipment.
In the very tight Virginia Senate race, the FBI said it was looking into complaints that callers had tried to intimidate or confuse voters in the contest, which pits the Republican George Allen against Jim Webb, the Democrat challenger.
Political reaction
- Democrats can now appoint House committee chairpersons that will set the legislative agenda for the next two years, including trade policies and any inquiries into the Bush administration.
- Main policy implications seen as gridlock in Washington and stronger pressure to withdraw from Iraq.
Following are analysts’ views on the impact of the elections on foreign and domestic policies:
Iraq war
George McGovern, US Democratic senator 1962-1981, ran for president three times
”It seems to me that whether you are a Democrat or a Republican, you can’t look at these results without realising that something fundamental was going on. People have grown weary of this war and want it brought to a close. Unless the Democrats come up with a programme for terminating our involvement in this war, they are not going to last as a majority very long.”
Stuart Spencer, Republican strategist, worked on presidents Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan’s presidential campaigns
”Because the Democrats won in every region of the country in the House, for example, the big gorilla, the big elephant in the house tonight is Iraq. That was the issue. When you go regionally there are small issues, local issues, all of that, but Iraq overrode all of them. You take Iraq out of the equation, I don’t think you’d see that big a change tonight.”
Koichi Nakano, associate professor of political science, Sophia University
”If it is admitted by the president that the US made serious foreign policy errors [in Iraq], the idea of Japan wanting to tie its fate closer to the United States sounds like a very bad idea.”
Michael McKinley, internatioanl relations specialist for Australian National University
”If the United States withdraws from Iraq in the current situation, that would be a defeat of Vietnam proportions, and it would be understood as such.
Howard Dean, Democratic Party chief, on CNN
”There’s not a lot we can do to actually force the president to leave Iraq, but ultimately we can have some influence and I think you’ll see certainly an attempt by Democrats to change the direction.”
War on terrorism
Bantarto Bandoro, international politics analyst at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies
”Democrats are seen more friendly and sensitive over issues of civil rights and sovereignity. I think several Asian governments, although behind the curtains, and the general public here are tired of seeing the behaviour of the United States that is lately being influenced by the conservative wing of the Republican party. They want a more constructive relationship and they do not want to be dictated to follow the Republican’s conservative agenda. I think the Democrats will adopt a more dignifying approach like more frequent consultations with other nations that are allies in the war on terror.
Rohan Edrisinha, analyst at the independent think tank centre for policy altenatives in Sri Lanka
”A number of people in Asia are very concerned that the Bush approach of ‘You’re either with us or against us’ is very simplistic and actually in the long-term being counterproductive and helping the forces of extremism and anti-American feeling in general.”
Stephen Leong, assistant director general at the Institute for Strategic and International Studies, Malaysia
”From the South-east Asian point of view, this is a positive development in the sense that hopefully the Democrats will have a more constructive approach to the war on terror with less emphasis on military intervention and more on soliciting views and working with the international community.
North Korea
Park Jin, member of Parliament, conservative opposition Grand National Party
”There will be greater demand for bilateral dialogue between North Korea and the United States to resolve the nuclear issue [with a Democratic win]. The Republican administration will be pressed to engage in more flexible dialogue with the North, including trying to resolve the financial crackdown issue.
Lee-Dong-Bok, fellow of the CSIS think tank, expert on North Korean negotiating tactics
”A Democratic win probably won’t have an impact on the [North Korean] nuclear issue, because in many ways the Democrats have taken a harder line [than the Republicans] when it comes to the nuclear problem. We have seen the Democrats saying there should be a give and take, and, if the North isn’t forthcoming, then force may have to be used.
Dissatisfaction with Bush
Alexander Lamis, professor of political science, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland
”Clearly it’s a repudiation of the Bush administration. The exit polls that I’ve seen so far are showing an amazing number of people voting against Bush — regardless of the office.”
”It’s going to change the political dynamic in Washington in a dramatic way. The House of Representatives will now begin to challenge the president and Democrats will have leadership positions in all the key committees and there is a lot you can do when you control the committees and the majority in the house. It does mean we will have deadlock on the big policy areas, but it’s going to be a difficult time for President Bush unless he compromises with this new majority in the House.”
David Bositis, political analyst with the Joint Centre for Political and Economic Studies
”It’s a rejection of George Bush. Right now the Republican Party is a southern party and if they are going to just be a southern party they are going to be a minority party.”
Matt Foreman, executive director of the Natonal Gay and Lesbian Taskforce
”I would say that it is clear that fear-mongering around same-sex marriage by the Republicans and the extreme Christian Right is fizzling. It just doesn’t have the juice it had two years ago. People are getting sick of it. ”
House Minority leader, Nancy Pelosi
”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.” – Reuters, – Guardian Unlimited Â