NATION
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Wednesdav. November 9. 1994
7A
Republicans rule Senate
WALHINGTON — Republicans captured control of the Senate yesterday, toppling Democratic incumbents in Tennessee and Pennsylvania and taking away seats in all regions of the country.
Republican Oliver North lost his costly, conservative crusade in Virginia in one of the nation's most closely watched races, falling to Sen. Charles Robb.
But Sen. Jim Sasser, a Democratic committee chairman and ally of President Clinton, fell to Republican Bill Frist, a physician and political newcomer who ran the classic incumbent's campaign in a year of voter anger with the status quo.
And freshman Democrat Harris Wofford lost to 36-year-old GOP Rep. Rick Santorum in Pennsylvania.
Eight years out of power, Republicans added Democratic seats in Ohio, Maine, Oklahoma, Arizona,
Michigan and a second Tennessee contest, part of an impressive sweep of nine races without incumbents on the ballot.
In an interview with C-Span, he said the strong Republican tide amounted to a vote of no confidence in the Clinton agenda.
The restored Republican majority is virtually certain to install Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas to the powerful post of major lender for the final two years of President Clinton's term.
GOP takes big gains in U.S. House
"The burden of government is now on them." White House press secretary Dee Dee Myers said at midnight as the scope of Democratic losses became clear. Already, the impact on the administration was clear, as White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta said Clinton would propose only an incremental change in health care next year, rather than the top-to-bottom overhaul that died earlier this year.
WASHINGTON — Republicans won more seats in U.S. House of Representatives yesterday than in any year since 1956 and drove toward outright control of the chamber for the first time in four decades.
The tide swept out former Ways and Means Committee chairman Dan Rostenkowski, a 36-year veteran indicted in May on federal corruption charges. He was defeated by Republican Michael Flanagan, an unknown lawyer whose name had recently been in a trivial contest on a Chicago radio station.
Another symbol of Democratic power, Speaker Tom Foley, was fighting for political survival as voters took out their anger over business as usual in Washington.
Republicans captured 34 previously Democratic seats, 17 of them in southern and border states. By contrast, Democrats managed to pick up just two GOP-held seats, in Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. To win control of the House, Republicans needed a 40-seat gain.
Republicans had won 193 seats and were leading in 33 others, a trend which would give them 226, more than enough to control the 485-seat House. The 193 victories were more than the party had won since they held 201 in the 85th Congress.
National exit poll conducted by Voter News Service showed that Republicans would seize control of the chamber, a goal that had eluded the party for 40 years.
Frustrated voters get back at Clinton
By Walter R. Mears
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Angry, alienated, America's voters are turning the face of their government to the right. They got mad, and on Tuesday they got even, taking it out on the Democrats, rewarding Republicans with control of the Senate and vastly increased power in the House.
So they toppled Democratic legends — falling Gov. Mario Cuomo of New York and unseating Rep. Dan Rostenkowski of Chicago, facing corruption charges.
They put the name Bush back on the political map as governor of Texas. It's George W. this time, son of the former president, victor over a Democratic governor who rose to TV fame taunting his father.
And that's only a sampling.
There were some survivors — Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Massachusetts, Sen. Charles Robb, D-Virginia, for example, names that withstood the understory.
In the process, voters seemed to be getting even with President Clinton, the purported New Democrat they'd chosen only two years ago to solve their frustration and revive their economy. Now times are better, as Clinton has said, over and over.
ANALYSIS
But his message wasn't convincing. And his prospects next time, when he would be atop the Democratic ballot for a second term, suffered. There's time to recover, but against obstacles at every turn in the more Republican Congress.
As voters left polling places across the nation, about half said they were no better off economically than when Clinton took over, and a quarter said things were worse for them.
Clinton's approval rating was at about 44 percent, with 51 percent disapproving his White House performance.
Those surveys for The Associated Press and the four major TV networks
signaled wide dissatisfaction with congressional performance, overwhelming support for term limits.
"Not since 1952 have Republicans controlled the United States Congress," said Sen. Bob Dole.
So the voters also got even with the Democrats who have been running Congress for most of their lifetimes.
"One hundred and fifty five million Americans have been born since Republicans last controlled the United States Congress," the Senate GOP leader said. They had the Senate for six years, until 1986. They last held the House in 1954.
Republicans took eight Senate seats from the Democrats, guaranteeing them a majority whatever the outcome in unsettled races.
They needed 40 seats to win control for the first time since 1954, and partial, inconclusive returns showed enough GOP takeovers to do it if trends held. Even short of a majority, empowered, reinforced Republicans will have a grip on what happens from now on.
Clinton looks to future after Democratic defeats
WASHINGTON — With his party on the ropes, President Clinton pledged yesterday to work closer with congressional Republicans and prevent rancorous midterm elections from putting his presidency in peril. Political reform will replace health care reform aton his agenda, aides said.
An air of resignation over the White House after half the states' polls closed and aides digested the gloomy results of an election that seemed, in many cases, a referendum on Clinton's presidency.
The election results appeared to tip the White House legislative agenda on its ear, forcing lobbying and campaign finance reform to the forefront. The apparent victim: Health care reform.
Chief of Staff Leon Panetta said the administration would propose only "an incremental change" in the health system, because Republicans successfully used Clinton's aggressive proposal against Democratic candidates.
Citing voter discontent with Washington, Panetta said that although Clinton would be working with an unfriendly Congress, his top priority for the next two years would be political reforms.
"The pressure is going to be on the members of Congress ... to vote clearly for reforms in the way Congress does business, or they will pay one hell of a price in two years," he said.
gathering of party workers in the evening.
The president was said to appear disappointed, but not defeated, at a
Aides said Clinton recognized that he would be dealing with a more conservative and more Republican Congress. "I think the president will want to heal the wounds and close the gaps as quickly as possible," press secretary Dee Dee Myers said.
The White House would have none of that. "It really doesn't appear this was a vote against Clinton," Panetta said. "It was really a vote against Washington.
Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, claimed a wave of Republican advances in Congress, telling CNN, "This election turned into a referendum on Bill Clinton's program."
GOP candidates sweep several governorships
Republican businessman Gary Johnson knocked off a third Democratic incumbent, Gov. Bruce King in New Mexico.
The Republicans scored victories in seven of the eight most populous states. Florida's Democratic Gov. Lawton Chiles played the spoiler, narrowly turning back a dogged challenge by another former presidential son, Jeb Bush.
The giant-killer in Texas was George W. Bush, eldest son of the former president, who insisted that despite the state's healthy economy and Richards' high job approval rating that she was a failed leader.
Republicans were assured of at least 27 statehouses and were leading in several other races.
Cuomo, seeking an unprecedented fourth term, was vanquished by state Sen. George Patalk.
The scope of the GOP victories and the party's dominance in politically vital states gave Republicans a headstart on the 1996 presidential campaign and a slew of platforms from which to criticize President Bill Clinton.
Compiled from The Associated Press.
Republicans seized nine Democratic governorships and protected their territory all across the country yesterday as the party captured a majority of statehouses for the first time since 1970. Two Democratic giants, Mario Cuomo of New York and Ann Richards of Texas, were washed away by the GOP tide.
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