ELECTION '98: Dems buck history with series of key wins

The vidtories may signal voter backlash over the GOP's handling of the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Defying history, Democrats battled Republicans to a standstill -- and perhaps better -- yesterday in mid-term elections likely to bolster support for President Clinton on the eve of congressional impeachment proceedings. Senate Republicans were unable to increase their 55 to 45 seat edge -- a 60-seat majority would have been fillibuster-proof -- as Democrats held the line nationwide. And in the House, Democrats had picked up five seats with 11 races still undecided early this morning. The GOP maintained a majority in the House for the third consecutive term, the first time the party had done so in 70 years. But any Democratic inroads -- considered very likely -- would contradict a post-World War II trend of mid-term election losses for the party of a sitting president. Not since 1934, when Franklin Roosevelt was president, has the party in the White House won seats at mid-term. Resurgent Democrats also won the single biggest prize of the night when Gray Davis was elected governor of California, one of 36 statehouse contests on the ballot. While the GOP easily kept control of the Senate, Democrats ousted two vigorous Clinton critics -- Alfonse D'Amato of New York and Lauch Faircloth of North Carolina. In Illinois, Democratic Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun lost her bid for re-election. Davis aside, Democrats celebrated other statehouse victories, ousting a pair of Southern governors and electing a governor in Iowa for the first time since 1966. Democrats said they were taking legislative chambers from the GOP, too. In a dynastic triumph with implications for the 2000 presidential race, GOP Gov. George W. Bush won a Texas-sized re-election. His brother Jeb added the Florida statehouse to the Republican column. And Republicans held big-state governships in Illinois, Ohio, Michigan and New York, and took Nevada away from the Democrats. Democrats countered in South Carolina, where Jim Hodges toppled first-term Gov. David Beasley, ironically the chairman of the Republican Governors' Association. Alabama Gov. Fob James, also a Republican, was defeated as well. Democrats also kept the Georgia governorship in their hands when Roy Barnes won his race to succeed Zell Miller. Earlier in the evening, the leaders of both parties sought to claim success in the final midterm election of the Clinton presidency. Senate Whip Don Nickles acknowledged tersely, ''It's not as good as some hoped'' for Republicans. But other party leaders emphasized that the GOP had maintained its majority in both houses. Steve Grossman, co-chair of the Democratic Party, said a late-campaign series of GOP commercials reminding voters of Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky was ''an abject failure.... This was not only a colossal waste of money on the part of the Republicans, but it also caused something of a backlash,'' he added. Asked in an interview about the impact of the returns on impeachment proceedings, House Democratic Leader Dick Gephardt said, ''I think this was a cry from the people to get on with their agenda, and I hope the Republicans will.'' In a closely watched Senate race, Democrat Russell Feingold, a leading proponent of campaign finance reform, won his race for re-election in Wisconsin. In another close contest, Republican Rep. Jim Bunning edged Democratic Rep. Scotty Baesler for a Kentucky seat currently held by Democrats. The trend in House races was overwhelmingly favorable to incumbents in both parties. With nearly 300 of the House's 435 races settled, only a handful had been denied a new term. Only one Democrat, Rep. Jay Johnson of Wisconsin, was among them. That left the main battle for the 34 open seats. In California, Sen. Barbara Boxer held onto her seat. In South Carolina, veteran Democratic Sen. Ernest Hollings -- long viewed by party strategists as one of the most endangered incumbents on the ballot -- triumphed in his bid for a sixth full term. And as expected two Senate seats switched from one party to the other. Former Gov. Evan Bayh took back an Indiana Senate seat that had been in Republican hands since his father Birch Bayh was defeated for re-election in 1980. Republicans countered in Ohio, where Gov. George Voinovich succeeds John Glenn, who was orbiting Earth in an election-week voyage aboard the shuttle Discovery. Election Day interviews with voters across the country showed that 20 percent identified education as their most important concern when they cast ballots in congressional races. Another 19 percent cited moral and ethical issues, 14 percent named the economy and 12 percent each identified taxes and Social Security as their key issues. When asked about Clinton and impeachment, six in 10 voters said they disapproved of how Congress is handling the matter, with nearly as many saying Congress should just drop the issue without proceeding to impeachment hearings. But roughly 60 percent of those questioned said the president's troubles had nothing to do with their vote for House candidates. The remaining 40 percent were equally divided in casting their votes to show support for or opposition to Clinton. The polls were conducted by Voter News Service for The Associated Press and five television networks. Clinton said during the day that the election was not a referendum on him, and others agreed. ''Is there some anger and intensity on both sides? Yes,'' said Ed Goeas, a Republican pollster. ''But is it overwhelming or in anyway a referendum on impeachment, no, I don't think so.''