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ELECTION 98 MAIN|
|REMOTE NAVIGATOR
REAL-TIME RESULTS: SENATE | HOUSE | GOVERNORS | BALLOTS

BALANCE OF POWER

oldnew+/-
SENATE
GOP:
DEMS:

55
45

55
45

0
0
HOUSE
GOP:
DEMS:
IND:

228
206
1

223
211
1

-5
+5
0
GOVERNOR
GOP:
DEMS:
IND:

32
17
1

31
17
2

-1
0
+1

COMMUNITY

Post your opinions on the November races

Moderates inherit the governor's mansions

Good day for Bush family

By Jim Barnes/National Journal magazine

(ATLANTA) -- Moderation was the message of the day in governor's races across the country Tuesday. Republican and Democratic candidates alike who campaigned as centrists and eschewed ideological partisan positions usually fared well.

For instance, two Midwestern victors, Republican George Ryan in Illinois and Democrat Tom Vilsak in Iowa, both won close races and carried voters who described themselves as moderates and those who called themselves independents.

In an unusual move by a Republican, Ryan campaigned as the candidate who supported stricter gun control laws and attacked his Democratic opponent, Rep. Glenn Poshard, for his past opposition to gun control legislation.

Illinois voters agreed: 72 percent of the voters supported stricter gun control laws in Illinois, and Ryan carried that group, 59 percent to 40 percent. At the same time, Ryan didn't alienate gun control opponents; they backed Ryan 57 percent to 39 percent.

In Iowa, Vilsak embraced the issue of more spending for education, while his Republican opponent, Jim Ross Lightfoot, thought that cutting taxes was more important. Iowa voters agreed with Vilsak: 49 percent favored more education spending, while 46 percent wanted tax cuts. Among those who backed more educational spending, 68 percent supported Vilsak. Among the tax cutters, 60 percent supported Lightfoot.

Healthy economies help GOP in some states

In other states, the strong performance of state economies tended to benefit Republicans. In Ohio, for instance, more than three-quarters of voters rated the state economy as excellent or good, and they backed Republican Secretary of State Bob Taft, who sought to replace outgoing Republican Gov. George Voinovich.

Republican acting Gov. Paul Cellucci won a tough race in Massachusetts, in no small part because voters there thought the economy was doing well and they liked his support for cutting taxes further.

But one place where the Republican candidate was not rewarded for the economy's performance was in California, where Democratic Lt. Gov. Gray Davis won the biggest statehouse in the nation, defeating Republican State Attorney General Dan Lungren.

Although California has been run by a Republican governor for the last 16 years and most voters gave the state's economy high marks, that didn't help Lungren. For example, 69 percent of the voters in the California governor's race said that the state's economy was in good shape, but they favored Davis 55 percent to 43 percent over Lungren. And among voters who expected the state's economy to get better next year, Davis carried those voters, 64 percent to 35 percent.

Davis also did well among Hispanic voters, who are still angry at outgoing Republican Gov. Pete Wilson, who supported tough anti-immigration measures. Davis carried Hispanics, a growing share of the California electorate, 77 percent to 19 percent.

And despite Lungren's efforts to portray Davis as too liberal for the state, Davis handily carried moderate voters, 63 percent to 34 percent. He also carried self-described independents, 54 percent to 37 percent.

Bush brothers clean up

For the family of former President George Bush, the story from the statehouses was sweet indeed.

Texas Republican Gov. George W. Bush won an overwhelming re-election victory. The governor, who had a track record of working with the Democrats in the state Legislature during his first term in Austin and who was endorsed by the outgoing Democratic Lt. Gov. Paul Hobby, carried moderate voters 58 percent to 42 percent over his Democratic opponent, Garry Mauro. George W. Bush also swept independents, 70 percent to 26 percent.

In his victory speech Tuesday night, he said that his message of compassionate conservatism would attract voters to the Republican party who don't normally find a home there. Among Hispanic voters, he captured 47 percent, a high mark for a GOP candidate. He also carried lower working class voters, those with incomes of $15,000 to $30,000.

Meanwhile, the former president's other son, Jeb Bush, captured the governorship in Florida, which eluded him four years ago when he first ran for governor. Jeb Bush carried Florida's Hispanic voters 58 percent to 42 percent. While he did not win the moderate vote in the state, he improved his showing among this group over his performance in 1994 and swept the conservative vote, 83 percent to 17 percent.

Women push Ventura to win

And in perhaps the most unusual governor's race on November 3, Reform Party candidate Jesse "The Body" Ventura captured Minnesota's statehouse over Democratic State Attorney General Hubert "Skip" Humphrey III and Republican St. Paul Mayor Norm Coleman.

In the three-way race, Ventura won the votes of self-described moderates with 40 percent to 32 percent for Humphrey and 27 percent for Coleman. Ventura also prevailed among independents, taking 52 percent to 28 percent for Coleman and 18 percent for Humphrey.

Ventura, an ex-professional wrestler, did well among male voters, winning 38 percent, just behind the 39 percent who voted for Coleman. But it was Ventura's stronger showing among women that allowed him to prevail over Coleman: Ventura won 36 percent of the female vote, while Coleman, the runner-up in the three-way contest, took only 29 percent of the female vote.

Ironically, had Ventura not run, the television network exit poll indicated that Coleman would have won Minnesota's statehouse, by about 47 percent to 39 percent over Humphrey.

(Jim Barnes was an Election Night analyst for CNN.)

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