Democrats expand control of both Houses
Democrats fattened their majority control of the Senate on Tuesday, ousting Republican Sens. Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina and John Sununu of New Hampshire and capturing seats held by retiring GOP senators in Virginia, New Mexico and Colorado.
Democrats also expanded their control of the House of Representatives and were headed for historic gains in their majority Tuesday by solidifying their dominance in the Northeast and making inroads in the South and West.
Ousting 22-year veteran Rep. Chris Shays in Connecticut gave Democrats every House seat from New England. Their victory in an open seat on New York's Staten Island gave them control of all of New York City's delegation in Washington for the first time in 35 years.
Piggybacking on the excitement level raised by presidential victor Barack Obama and his voter-registration and get-out-the-vote drives, Democrats increased their effective majority to at least 56 seats in the 100-member Senate.
They did not turn over a single seat to Republicans. All Democratic incumbents on the ballot prevailed.
Four races with Republican incumbents remained to be resolved in Alaska, Oregon, Minnesota and Georgia.
But Republicans stopped a complete rout, holding the Kentucky seat of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and a Mississippi seat once held by Trent Lott two top Democratic targets.
North Carolina state Sen. Kay Hagan, little known politically before her run, defeated Dole a former Cabinet member in two Republican administrations and 2000 presidential hopeful. Dole had tried to tie Hagan, a former Presbyterian Sunday school teacher, to atheists in an ad that appeared to backfire.
Democrats also rode the coattails of a decisive victory by Barack Obama in New Mexico to win one House seat they haven't controlled in four decades and another the GOP had held for 28 years. Both were left up-for-grabs by GOP retirements.
"The American people have called for a new direction. They have called for change in America," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. Exit polls showed voters troubled by the battered economy and deeply dissatisfied with President Bush.
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