GOP takes governors races in Ky., Miss.

NEW YORK -- Washington lobbyist Haley Barbour unseated Mississippi Democratic Governor Ronnie Musgrove as the GOP swept both governors races at stake yesterday and consolidated party gains in the South. Representative Ernie Fletcher decisively won in Kentucky, ousting Democrats from power after 32 years.

With 84 percent of precincts reporting, Barbour got 53 percent, or 404,466 votes, to Musgrove's 45 percent, or 341,966 votes. Fletcher, a three-term congressman, defeated state Attorney General Ben Chandler, polling 55 percent, or 593,508 votes, to the Democrat's 45 percent, or 484,938 votes.

Elsewhere, Philadelphia's Democratic Mayor John Street handily defeated Republican businessman Sam Katz, 59 percent to 41 percent. And Democrats took control of the New Jersey Legislature, breaking a 20-20 tie in the state Senate and defeating the GOP's top Senate leader. In both Mississippi and Kentucky, candidates tried out slogans and strategies that could well be used in the 2004 presidential race.

Each race turned on state issues, but as the highest-level elections before the 2004 White House contest, they drew close scrutiny from political strategists.

In Kentucky, Governor Paul Patton is leaving because of term limits and after an infidelity scandal that soured voters. Fletcher campaigned on a promise to "clean up the mess in Frankfort."

Chandler's campaign tried to rally voters with its criticism of Bush.

"It sends a message to the rest of the country: We're tired of the biggest budget deficit in history," said Wendell Ford, a former Democratic governor and senator stumping for the Democrat.

The tactic failed, GOP leaders said.

"The Democrat strategy was negative attacks and tying Ernie Fletcher to President Bush and making this race a referendum on the president's economic policies," Republican National Chairman Ed Gillespie said. "The Democrats had their referendum and got their answer."

State Republican Chairwoman Ellen Williams added that said Bush helped swing the race in western Kentucky, a conservative Democratic area thatboth campaigns said was crucial. Bush "lit that district on fire," she said. "The people in that part of the state are in line with Bush's conservative values."

In Mississippi, Democrats' attempt to use the president's flagging popularity against the GOP candidate also failed. They had criticized Barbour as a "Washington insider," but campaign visits by President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, and other top GOP officials appeared to buoy his campaign.

Republicans went into the election holding seven of 11 governorships in the South, having turned out Democratic chief executives in Alabama, South Carolina, and Georgia last year. With Arnold Schwarzenegger's victory in California last month and Fletcher's win, Republicans will hold 28 governorships. Democrats in Mississippi complained yesterday of intimidation at black voting precincts, echoing an earlier clash over race in Kentucky's final days. In both states, Democrats claimed that GOP poll observers sought to suppress the black vote, although Kentucky activists said they saw few problems on Election Day.

"The Republican Party has run this election with a fistful of dollars in one hand and a Confederate flag in the other," said Rickey L. Cole, Mississippi Democratic Party chairman. Earlier, Barbour had revisited the issue of the Confederate flag. Recent ads reminded voters that Musgrove had supported an unsuccessful 2001 referendum that sought to remove the Rebel "X."

Spending records fell in Mississippi's race, where Musgrove, seeking a second term, was outspent by Barbour, former head of the Republican National Committee.

Elsewhere, Denver voters, by more than a 2-1 ratio, rejected a "peace initiative" to reduce stress. In the nation's major mayoral races:

In Philadelphia, Street defeated Katz in a rematch of their 1999 contest. Street had experienced a bounce in the polls after it was learned that the FBI bugged his City Hall office. Street and his supporters have portrayed the investigation as an attempt by the Bush administration to bring down a black politician. Federal prosecutors have rebutted that. They have refused to say what they are investigating but have subpoenaed records about a variety of work performed by a Street fund-raiser.

In Houston, businessman Bill White led a field of nine going into the election. Mayor Lee Brown, the city's first black mayor, cannot seek a fourth term.

In San Francisco, the city is picking a new mayor; Mayor Willie Brown is barred from seeking a third term. Wealthy entrepreneur Gavin Newsom, who sought to get panhandlers off city streets, was considered the front-runner. A runoff was expected.