4B
6A THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NEWS
Late charge helps Republicans keep House control
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON
WASHINGTON Republicans defeated four veteran Texas Democrats and snatched an open Democratic seat in Kentucky on yesterday as they marched to the brink of extending their decade-long control of the House.
Democrats answered back, knocking off the longest-serving Republican in the chamber, Rep. Phil Crane, an Illinois conservative from Chicago's wealthy suburbs, and a Georgia freshman incumbent. But their longshot chance of gaining 12 seats to end Republican command was nearly extinguished with less than one-fifth of the 435 House races still to be decided.
"Despite Democratic claims to the contrary, we are going to
be the majority party in the 109th Congress, declared Rep. Thomas Reynolds, R.N.Y., who heads the GOP's House campaign operation.
By early Wednesday in the East, Republicans had won 207 seats and were leading in 22 others, which could give them at least 229 seats, 11 more than the majority needed for House control.
Republicans held a 227-205 advantage over Democrats in the outgoing House, plus two GOP leaning vacant seats and an independent who sided with Democrats.
its chief architects were House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R Texas, who was easily re-elected.
Months after Texas' dominant state Republicans redrew congressional district lines to the GOP's advantage, the fiercely disputed plan bore fruit and fueled the party's hopes of holding its House majority. Among
Texas Democratic Reps. Charles Stenholm, a leading fiscal conservative and power on the Agriculture Committee, and Martin Frost, a one-time member of his party's leadership, were both defeated, as were Reps. Max Sandlin and Nick Lampson. The four had a total of 68 years of House experience.
The apparent failure of either party to make dramatic House gains underscored how the national debates over Iraq and the economy provided no decisive help to either side.
Earlier in the evening, Nick Clooney, former Cincinnati television anchor and father of actor George Clooney, lost his attempt to hold an open northeastern
Kentucky seat for Democrats. He was beaten by GOP businessman Geoff Davis.
Democrats fared better in the well-to-do suburbs north of Chicago, where they defeated Crane, whose 35-year House career was the longest among the chamber's Republicans. The victor was Melissa Bean, who was born seven years before Crane entered the House and characterized him as out of touch with his district.
They also ousted freshman GOP Rep. Max Burns, a top target of theirs, from a Democratic-leaning east Georgia seat. Republican Nancy Naples was trailing in her attempt to hold an open seat for her party in a district around Buffalo, N.Y.
In Connecticut, the GOP overcame Democratic efforts to
tie some Republican incumbents to President Bush, whose popularity is low there. Maverick GOP Rep. Christopher Shays and former CIA agent Rep. Rob Simmons staved off Democratic rivals.
Frost's bitter race against GOP Rep. Pete Sessions was the country's most expensive; the pair raised $8.4 million by late October, split almost equally. Stenholm was defeated by freshman Rep. Randy Neugebauer in a district in which two-thirds of the voters were new to Stenholm.
Another endangered Texas Democrat, Chet Edwards, held a slender lead against his challenger, despite the influence of one of his Crawford, Texas, constituents: President Bush.
Incumbents were coasting to
re-election from Minnesota to Florida as well, including former presidential hopeful Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio. Also returned for a second House term was Rep. Katherine Harris, R-Fla., who was her state's secretary of state during the pivotal Florida recount during the 2000 presidential election.
Three candidates with congressional pedigrees triumphed. Democrat Daniel Lipinski won the Chicago seat held by his father, William, for 22 years; Democrat Dan Boren of Oklahoma, son of a former senator, won a House seat; and Republican Connie Mack, namesake son of the former senator, grabbed the Fort Myers, Fla., seat vacated by Porter Goss when he was chosen to head the CIA.
Voters pass various measures
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Californians voted yesterday to spend $3 billion on stem cell research, putting the state on the cutting edge of a field questioned by conservatives and the Bush administration.
Arizonans approved a crackdown on illegal immigrants, adopting a measure that would deter them from voting or obtaining certain government services.
Florida voters approved a $1-an-hour hike in the state minimum wage. Montana became the 10th state to legalize marijuana for medical purposes and Oklahoma voters approved a state lottery, leaving only nine states without one.
In all, 163 measures were on the ballots in 34 states.
Eleven states were considering constitutional bans on same-sex marriage; the bans were approved in the first 10 states to report results.
Backers of California's Proposition 71, which will support human embryonic stem cell research, said the measure
was needed because the Bush administration has restricted funding to about $25 million a year.
The campaign became a battle of Hollywood stars after actor-turned-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger broke Republican ranks to line up in support with late Superman actor Christopher Reeve and Family Ties actor Michael J. Fox.
Actor and director Mel Gibson was among high-profile foes of the measure.
The Arizona immigration initiative was touted by supporters as a way to curtail fraud by requiring people to produce proof of immigration status when obtaining certain government services.
It would punish state workers who looked the other way.
Floridians voted to raise the state's minimum wage to $6.15 an hour, a dollar higher than the federal minimum wage.
Arizona is the busiest illegal entry point on the U.S.-Mexico border, and spends millions annually to provide food stamps, welfare and other social services to illegal immigrants.
A similar measure was on Nevada's ballot.
Florida voters also approved a measure limiting the privacy rights of girls seeking abortions, meaning the Legislature can now pass a law requiring parents to be notified.
Lawmakers had been stymined in efforts to pass such a law by court rulings that say they violated the privacy provision of the state constitution.
Many of the most noteworthy ballot items were in Western states, including a potentially history-making proposal to legalize marijuana in Alaska.
Federal drug czar John Walters denounced the measure; supporters defended it as a sensible alternative to existing drug policies.
In Oregon, voters were deciding whether to expand their state's existing medical-marijuana program.
Republicans gain in Senate
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Democratic State Sen, Barack Obama easily won a seat formerly in Republican hands in Illinois, and will be the only black among 100 senators when the new Congress convenes in January.
WASHINGTON
Republicans renewed their grip on the Senate last night and captured a string of Democratic seats across the South.
WASHINGTON
Rep. Johnny Isakson claimed Georgia for the Republicans, and Rep. Jim DeMint took South Carolina. Rep. Richard Burr soon followed suit in North Carolina.
In each case, Democratic retirements induced ambitious lawmakers to give up safe House seats to risk a run for the Senate.
GOP candidates mounted strong challenges in two more southern states where Democrats stepped down.
In Florida, former HUD Secretary Mel Martinez held a narrow lead over Betty Castor, a former state legislator, with votes
counted in more than 90 percent of the precincts.
In Louisiana, Republican Rep. David Vitter led several Democratic rivals comfortably with more than 90 percent of the precincts counted, and flirted with an outright majority that would allow him to avoid a Dec. 4 runoff.
Most incumbents of both parties won handily. For some, it was a struggle.
Sen. Jim Bunning of Kentucky scrambled mightly before winning a new term in Kentucky. Arlen Specter won re-election in Pennsylvania with barely 50 percent of the vote in a multi-candidate field. Both are Republicans.
There were other exceptions to the easy-election trend for incumbents.
Democratic leader Tom Daschle and former Rep. John Thune were in an impossibly close race with votes counted in one-third of their sparsely populated state — separated by fewer than 1,000 votes. Theirs was a campaign on which the two men spent $26 million —
an estimated $50 for each registered voter.
With few exceptions, incumbents won new terms with ease.
Republicans who won new terms included Sens. Richard Shelby of Alabama, Kit Bond of Missouri, Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, George Voinovich of Ohio, Sam Brownback of Kansas, Robert Bennett of Utah, Charles Grassley of Iowa, Mike Crapo of Idaho, John McCain of Arizona and Specter.
Among Democratic incumbents, Sens. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, Barbara Mikulski of Maryland, Evan Bayh of Indiana, Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, Russell Feingold of Wisconsin, Charles Schumer of New York, Harry Reid of Nevada, Patty Murray of Washington, Barbara Boxer of California, Ron Wyden of Oregon and Daniel Inouye of Hawaii won new terms.
There were 34 seats on the ballot, 19 held by Democrats and 15 by Republicans.
WESCOE HALL LEVEL
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