Thursday, November 9, 2000
The University Daily Kansan
Section A · Page 5
5
Updated Congress seats
Melissa Carr/KANSAN
GOP still in control after narrow victory
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — In an election that was generally friendly to incumbents, Republicans narrowly retained their grip on the House of Representatives, extending their reign to eight years.
With two races still undecided yesterday, Republicans picked up enough Democratic seats to offset their losses and win the 218 seats necessary for control. Democrats needed a net gain of at least eight seats to regain the majority they lost in 1994.
At 6:30 a.m. Central Time, Republicans held 220 seats and were leading in one of the remaining races, with Democrats holding 211 seats and leading in one other
— a trend that would give them a net pickup of two. Two independents, one reliably siding with each party, won their reelection bids.
"We figured it was going to be close," said House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., who currently presides over a House with 222 Republicans, 209 Democrats, two independents and two vacancies.
Virginia Republican Rep. Tom Davis, the chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee, claimed victory despite the narrow control in the House.
"House Democrats have lost their once-in-a-generation chance to win back control of the House," Davis said.
The undecided seats were held by incumbents: Republican Clay Shaw of Florida and Democrat Rush Holl of New Jersey. Both were too close to call and some recounts were likely.
In early morning results, Republican Mike Rogers defeated Democrat Dianne Byrum, picking up a Michigan seat vacated by Debbie Stabenow, who won a
Senate seat. California Democrat Jane Harman defeated Republican incumbent Steve Kuykendall to return to the seat she gave up two years ago in an unsuccessful bid for governor.
Republican incumbents Brian Bilbray of California and Jay Dickey of Arkansas and Democrats Sam Gejdenson of Connecticut and David Minge of Minnesota were defeated.
Besides their Connecticut victory, Republicans won Democratic open seats in Pennsylvania, New York, Virginia and Missouri. The victory by Shelley Moore Capito in West Virginia's 2nd District was the GOP's first for the House in that state in 18 years.
In an interview, Hastert attributed the GOP's ability to hold the House to an agenda that included balancing the federal budget, paying down public debt and ensuring local control of education. Hastert also helped soften the image of the GOP compared with the anti-government revolutionaries that took the House in 1994 behind Newt Gingrich.
"I've tried to make the House work. I think that's what the people want," said Hastert, who won reelection to an eighth term from Illinois. "A lot of the people who were shrill aren't there any more." The Democratic leader, Dick Gephardt of Missouri, won his 13th term, but fell agonizingly short of his goal of regaining the majority his party lost in 1994. Still, the Democrats could console themselves with some victories.
In Oklahoma, Democrat Brad Carson claimed an open seat that Republicans had won in their 1994 landslide. The incumbent, Rep Tom Coburn, retired after adhering to a self-imposed limit of three terms.
Late, close election a burden for media
NEW YORK — TV networks declared George W. Bush the president-elect, then took it back during a bizarre night of election coverage that left everyone, including newscasters, flabbergasted.
The Associated Press
Newspapers across the country didn't have it any easier. They pushed back deadlines, slowed press runs and planned extra editions. But with the presidential race coming down to the wire and deadlines looming, many papers went to bed — prematurely declaring Bush the winner, even as Florida's crucial votes were still being counted.
"BUSH WINS!" the bold red headline screamed from the New York Post.
"BUSH TRIUMPHS," proclaimed The Charleston Gazette in West Virginia.
After holding out most of the night, The New York Times' Web site around 3 a.m. finally declared: "Bush Captures the White House." About an hour later, The Times' site pronounced the race "tight."
The Times said it released about 100,000 newspapers with headlines saying Bush "appears" to have won. The first paragraph said Bush "was elected the 43rd president of the United States by one of the tightest margins in history."
In Chicago, both papers hedged their bets. The Sun-Times avoided the subject with the lead headline "Hillary Wins," and the Tribune said, "As close as it gets."
The Associated Press did not declare a winner early yesterday, despite TV network projections.
In downtown Raleigh, N.C., Clyde Wagner was scoping up copies of The News & Observer with the headline "Bush Wins." The paper said more than half the press run
used that headline before it was replaced with "Bush Leads."
"I don't know if these will be collector's items, but I'm trying," Wagner said.
The premature headlines were reminiscent of the Chicago Daily Tribune's infamous 1948 gaffe, "Dewey Defeats Truman." Except this time, Gore himself conceded defeat — giving Bush a congratulatory telephone call. He later called back to retract the concession.
"We stopped the presses, and pulled back just about all of them," said Matthew V. Storin, editor of The Boston Globe, which ran the early headline: "It's Bush in a tight one." "We had about 20,000 either on trucks or around the (loading) dock. We pulled back just about all, but there's no way to be absolutely sure."
The only things that seemed sure: a recount in Florida and a political night no one would ever forget.
"I hope it will be two-out-of-three and not three-out-of-five," CBS anchor Dan Rather said in a wry reference to the networks' twice-retracted call for the winner of the pivotal Florida race — first giving it to Al Gore, then to Bush, before returning the state to the undecided column.
Al Ortiz, executive producer of CBS' election coverage, said the network believed when it called the race for Bush his lead in Florida was too big to overcome. But CBS miscalculated how many Gore votes were still uncounted, he said.
"It looked like a solid margin that was going to hold." Ortiz said.
Said NBC election producer Jeff Zucker, "We made mistakes. But we made mistakes on good faith based on bad information. If you make a mistake and own up to it, that's fine."
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