Democrats likely to add Senate to big House win
By The Associated Press and The Washington Post
WASHINGTON — Democrats recaptured the House of Representatives and this morning appeared likely to take control of the Senate.
Democrats Jon Tester in Montana and James Webb in Virginia maintained slender leads over Senators Conrad Burns and George Allen in the only two undecided Senate races. The final results in both contests may hinge on recounts, which rarely change results.
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.
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