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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

RELATED STORIES

Democrats to make historic gains in House (11-3-98)

How severe will the House 'six-year itch' be? (11-2-98)


COMMUNITY

Post your opinions on the November races

Analysis: A small but historic shift for the Democrats

What will the shift mean for both parties?

By Stuart Rothenberg

ATLANTA (November 3) -- It wasn't exactly a tsunami, but the Democrats did something that no party has done since 1934 -- win seats in a midterm while holding the White House. They did it by defeating a few GOP incumbents, doing better than expected in open seats, and avoiding losses by their own incumbents.

A strong economy appeared to help Democrats nationwide, with just a single Democratic incumbent, Wisconsin 8th congressional district freshman Jay Johnson, going down to defeat. In contrast, a handful of Republicans were ousted from the House, including Bill Redmond (New Mexico 3), Vince Snowbarger (Kansas 3) and Jon Fox (Pennsylvania 10).

Vulnerable Democrats such as Leonard Boswell (Iowa 3), Charlie Stenholm (Texas 17), Ted Strickland (Ohio 6) and Lane Evans (Illinois 17) held on, as did targeted Republicans like Steve Chabot (Ohio 1) and John Hostettler (Indiana 8).

Among the biggest surprises were Rush Holt's upset of Mike Pappas (R-New Jersey 12) and Baron Hill's defeat of Jean Leising to retain retiring Rep. Lee Hamilton's open seat in Indiana's 8th district. Even Democrats said Leising would win the seat after two previous efforts.

Despite their disappointments, Republicans have to be pleased that Don Sherwood beat Democrat Pat Casey to retain Pennsylvania's 10th congressional district seat for the GOP, Pat Toomey won Pennsylvania's open 15th district seat, and Paul Ryan defeated Democrat Lydia Spottswood in Wisconsin's 1st.

While the Democrats didn't gain enough seats to retake the House, their midterm gains defied history and were even more remarkable given President Bill Clinton's problems.

Democratic wins in two normally Republican districts -- in Senate candidate Jim Bunning's 4th district in Kentucky (won by Democrat Ken Lucas) and retiring Rep. Mike Parker's 4th district in Mississippi (won by Democrat Ronnie Shows) -- proves that moderate-to-conservative Democrats can compete in conservative Southern and border districts.

The Democratic gains heighten the possibility that House Democratic leader Dick Gephardt will not challenge Vice President Al Gore for the 2000 Democratic presidential nomination, instead preferring to stay in the House in the hope that he will become speaker after either the 2000 or 2002 elections.

The president clearly was a winner in Tuesday's balloting. He helped boost minority turnout, and avoided the sort of GOP gains that would have fueled further talk of impeachment.

In contrast, Republicans have to be greatly disappointed. Republican insiders, including House Speaker Newt Gingrich and NRCC chairman John Linder, had predicted large GOP gains. Instead, they were left with egg on their face -- as were some pollsters.

House conservative will now have to decide whether to blame Gingrich and the party's compromises with the president for the loss, or accept some responsibility of their own.

The Democratic gains shouldn't obscure the obvious: 1998 was indeed an incumbent's dream in the House. Republicans had hoped their heavy advertising and expected turnout advantage would help them knock off at least 8 to 10 Democratic incumbents, but they didn't come close. At the same time, only a few Republican incumbents went down to defeat.

Where do the parties go from here? The Republicans have to figure out how to regroup, and they are still searching for a way to undercut the president. They also have to figure how to run the House with an even smaller majority.

The Democrats must avoid overconfidence, and they are likely to push the same issues -- HMO reform, education, stopping teen smoking and campaign finance changes -- that they advocated, unsuccessfully, this year.

Results of key House races

Arkansas C.D. 2: Vic Snyder (D) (inc); Phil Wyrick (R)

California C.D. 1 (Open, Riggs, R): Mike Thompson (D); Mark Luce (R)

California C.D. 3 (Open, Fazio, D): Sandie Dunn (D); Doug Ose (R)

California C.D. 36 (Open, Harman, D): Janie Hahn (D); Steven Kuykendall (R)

California C.D. 42: George Brown (D) (inc); Elia Pirozzi (R)

California C.D. 46: Loretta Sanchez (D) (inc); Bob Dornan (R)

Colorado C.D. 2 (Open, Skaggs, D): Mark Udall (D); Bob Greenlee (R)

Connecticut C.D. 5:check Jim Maloney (D) (inc); Mark Nielsen (R)

Georgia C.D. 6: Gary "Bats" Pelphrey (D); Newt Gingrich (R) (inc)

Florida C.D. 3: Corrine Brown (D) (inc); Bill Randall (R)

Hawaii C.D. 3: Gene Ward (D) ;check Neil Abercrombie (R) (inc)

Idaho C.D. 1: Dan Williams (D); Rep. Helen Chenoweth (R) (inc)

Idaho C.D. 2 (Open, Crapo, R): Richard Stallings (D);check Mike Simpson (R)

Illinois C.D. 17:check Lane Evans (D) (inc); Mark Baker (R)

Illinois C.D. 19 (Open, Poshard, D): Dave Phelps (D); Brent Winters (R)

Indiana C.D. 19 (Open, Hamilton, D): Baron Hill (D); Jean Leising (R)

Iowa C.D. 3:check Leonard Boswell (D) (inc); Larry McKibben (R)

Kansas C.D. 3:check Dennis Moore (D); Vincent Snowbarger (R) (inc)

Kentucky C.D. 4 (Open, Bunning, R): check Ken Lucas (D); Gex "Jay" Williams (R)

Kentucky C.D. 6 (Open, Baesler, D): Ernesto Scorscone (D); checkErnie Fletcher (R)

Louisiana C.D. 6: Marjorie McKeithen (D);check Rep. Richard Baker (R) (inc)

Michigan C.D. 10:check David E. Bonior (D) (inc); Brian Palmer (R)

Mississippi C.D. 4 (Open, Parker, R):check Ronnie Shows (D); Delbert Hosemann (R)

Missouri C.D. 3: Richard Gephardt (D) (inc); William J. Federer (R)

New Mexico C.D. 3:check Tom Udall (D); Bill Redmond (R) (inc)

North Carolina C.D. 2: Bob Etheridge (D) (inc); Dan Page (R)

Ohio C.D. 1: Roxanne Qualls (D);check Steve Chabot (R) (inc)

Ohio C.D. 6:check Ted Strickland (D) (inc); Nancy Hollister (R)

Oregon C.D. 1 (Open, Furse, D): David Wu (D); Molly Bordonaro (R)

Pennsylvania C.D. 10 (Open, McDade, R): Pat Casey (D);check Don Sherwood (R)

Pennsylvania C.D. 13:check Joe Hoeffel (D); John Fox (R) (inc)

Pennsylvania C.D. 15 (Open, McHale, D): Ray Afflerbach (D);check Pat Toomey (R)

Texas C.D. 17: Charles Stenholm (D) (inc); Rudy Izzard (R)

Washington C.D. 1: Jay Inslee (D); Rick White (R) (inc)

Washington C.D. 3:check Brian Baird (D); Don Benton (R) (inc)

Wisconsin C.D. 1 (Open, Neumann, R): Lydia Spottswood (D);check Paul Ryan (R)

Wisconsin C.D. 2: (Open, Klug, R): checkTammy Baldwin (D); Jo Musser (R)

Wisconsin C.D. 8: Jay Johnson (D) (inc); checkMark Green (R)



OVERVIEW:

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BALLOT RACES:

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