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Democrats capture Congress

— ; Photo: AP

DISAPPOINTED: U.S. President George Bush walks to the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. Mr. Bush later said: "I am obviously disappointed with the outcome of the elections."

WASHINGTON: Democrats were on the brink of winning full control of Congress, as Americans sick of scandal and weary of war dealt a heavy blow to President George W. Bush's Republican Party. Bush acknowledged that his party had been thrashed and announced that Defence Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld would resign.

For a two-term President who has led with Senate and House control for most of his time in office, easing the way for his tax cuts and war policy, it was an unaccustomed dose of defeat.

``It was a thumpin','' Bush told reporters at a White House news conference.

Democrats, who captured the House of Representatives, won a tight Senate race in Montana on Wednesday, assuring them of at least 50 votes in the 100-seat Senate.

Democrats have a slight lead in the one outstanding Senate race, in Virginia. If they win, they will have outright control of Senate. If they lose, Republicans will have the advantage because Vice President Dick Cheney has a tie-breaking vote in the chamber. The race may not be decided for weeks.

The election was devastating for Republicans. They lost their majority in the House after 12 years in power and voters gave Democrats a majority of governorships for the first time in just as long.

A liberal Democrat, Nancy Pelosi, was set to become the speaker, or leader, of the House of Representatives, the first woman to hold the position. Pelosi on Wednesday called for a ``new direction'' for the country under a divided government.

Striking a tone of conciliation, she offered assurances that any effort to impeach Bush ``is off the table.'' But she said American voters ``spoke for change and they spoke for a new direction for all Americans.''

Bush expressed both disappointment and surprise over the election results and said he had called Democratic leaders to personally congratulate them. ``Actually, I thought we were going to do fine yesterday,'' Bush said. ``Shows what I know.''

Democrats won 228 House seats and led in four, putting them on track for a 30-seat gain if trends held in remaining unsettled races. Party standings in that event would be 232-203.

The Republican defeat prompted the outgoing speaker, Dennis Hastert, to announce he would not continue as leader of the House Republicans when Democrat take control of the chamber in January. That will trigger a leadership battle among Republican lawmakers.

The Democratic victory in the House was clear hours after polls closed. But the Senate race has been a cliffhanger. Democrats secured at least a tie in the Senate when it became clear that Montana Democrat Jon Tester prevailed against Sen. Conrad Burns, who was weakened politically by his ties to Jack Abramoff, the central figure in a lobbying scandal.

Democrats, aided by two independents, hoped to shape a 51-49 majority with a Virginia victory for Jim Webb, a former Navy secretary under President Ronald Reagan. Webb led by fewer than 9,000 votes out of more than 2.3 million cast. With the margin so small and so much on the line, Republican Sen. George Allen was not conceding. If a recount is held, it could take weeks to be conducted by a panel of judges.

Hillary re-elected

Among the Democratic winners was Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who coasted to a second Democratic term in New York, winning roughly 70 percent of the vote in a warm-up to a possible run for the White House in 2008.

Democrats took 20 of 36 governorship races to give themselves a majority of top state jobs _ 28 _ for the first time in a dozen years. New York, Ohio, Massachusetts, Colorado, Maryland and Arkansas went into the Democratic column.

Republicans hung on to Florida's governorship, with Charlie Crist prevailing in a race to succeed Bush's brother Jeb, and Bob Corker won a closely watched Senate contest in Tennessee, denying Democrat Harold Ford Jr.'s bid to become the first black senator from the South in more than a century.

A succession of tainted Republicans in both chambers lost seats as their leaders lost power, a stinging referendum on the ways of Washington. Across the country, voters expressed exasperation with the criminal convictions, the investigations and the recent sexual e-mail scandal that befell Congress over the past two years.

In surveys conducted at polling places, three out of four voters said corruption and scandalous behavior in Congress made them more likely to vote Democratic.

Also in the surveys, about six in 10 voters disapproved of the Iraq war and only a third believed it had improved long-term security in the United States.

Without losing any seats of their own, Democrats captured 27 Republican-held seats and were leading for two more, assuring them of control 12 years after a Republican rout brought a new generation of conservatives into office.

Surveys of voters suggested Democrats were winning the support of independents with almost 60 percent support, and middle-class voters were leaving Republicans behind.

About six in 10 voters said the nation is on the wrong track and disapproved of the way Bush is handling his job. Voters in all groups were more inclined to vote for Democratic candidates than for Republicans.

The surveys were taken by The Associated Press and television networks.

More than the party-run battle for control of Congress and the statehouses was at stake.

South Dakota voters rejected the toughest abortion law in the land _ a measure that would have outlawed the procedure under almost any circumstances. Democrats piled up gains in the nation's statehouses.

- AP

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