Democrats make gains, but Senate control hinges on 2 states

Democrats ousted Senators Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, Mike DeWine of Ohio, and Jim Talent of Missouri.

One of the closest races of the night was in Virginia, where Republican Senator George Allen and Democratic challenger James Webb were locked in a seesaw battle. Early this morning, the two candidates were separated by just a few thousand votes, which could trigger a state law that requires a recount if the margin of victory is less than 1 percent.

Shortly after 12:30 a.m. Allen told supporters that the race continues and to watch ballot counting carefully. However, just past 1 a.m., Webb declared victory. With 99 percent of the votes counted, Webb had a lead of just over 2,700 votes.

In another close race, Democrat Harold Ford failed in his bid to beat Republican Bob Corker, according to projections early this morning by the Associated Press. That meant that Democrats had to win two remaining close races in Virginia and Montana in order to gain control of the Senate.

The Iraq war was a major factor in all of the races, with Chafee losing to Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse even though Chafee opposed the war and wrote in the name of President Bush's father in the 2004 presidential race. Democrat Bob Casey Jr., defeated Santorum, the number three Republican leader in the Senate, in a landslide. Democrat Sherrod Brown easily beat DeWine.

Democrats held on to two seats that were considered most at risk: Senator Robert Menendez kept his New Jersey seat, defeating Republican Thomas Kean Jr., and in Maryland Ben Cardin, seeking to replace a retiring member of his party, beat Republican Michael Steele, the AP reported. Steele, however, declined to concede last night.

Democrats needed to pick up six seats to take over majority leadership. A pickup of five seats would create a tie, which would be broken by Vice President Dick Cheney, keeping the GOP in charge. Of the 33 seats up for election, party leaders focused on 10 of the most closely fought contests. Polling showed many of those of races within the margin of error just before Election Day.

The night started off strongly for Democrats in Pennsylvania, as Casey, the son of the state's former governor, swamped Santorum. After a bitter contest in which Santorum suggested that Casey would not be tough enough on terrorism, Santorum urged his supporters at a concession speech to applaud Casey.

"I congratulate him and I mean that wholeheartedly," Santorum said. "He is a fine man and he will do a fine job for the people of Pennsylvania."

Chafee's defeat in Rhode Island was a particularly bitter loss for Republicans, who poured money and volunteers into the campaign to keep a GOP senator from a state that has a strong Democratic voter base.

The Webb-Allen race provided drama reminiscent of the close presidential elections of 2000 and 2004, with ballot-counting going late into the night in a contest that Democrats hoped would give them control of the Senate if they won in Montana.

Allen was criticized after he referred to a Indian-American worker for his opponent's campaign as "macaca," which some interpreted as a racial slur. Webb, a former Navy secretary, assailed Allen for mimicking Bush's "stay the course" policy on the Iraq war.

Allen fought back, charging that Webb was insensitive to women by noting that Webb had written a 1979 article titled "Women Can't Fight" in which Webb said that a residence hall at the Naval Academy was "a horny woman's dream." Republicans hoped that by raising questions about Webb's views about women, they would gain enough support to reelect the son of a legendary former National Football League coach.

In Connecticut, Senator Joseph I. Lieberman recovered from his loss in the Democratic primary, winning reelection as an independent by defeating the Democrat who beat him in the primary, Ned Lamont, as well as Republican Alan Schlesinger. Lieberman was opposed by many Democrats due to his support for the Iraq war, but he attracted the votes of many Republicans and independents.

"I'm Joe Lieberman, and I approve of this election!" Lieberman said at his victory speech to the cheers of his supporters, jokingly paraphrasing the tagline candidates are required to deliver at the end of their campaign ads.

The contest in Montana kept Republicans on the defensive for weeks. GOP Senator Conrad Burns was criticized by Democratic candidate Jon Tester for taking campaign contributions from convicted superlobbyist Jack Abramoff. Both parties poured money into the state, turning it into an unlikely battleground that could determine control of the Senate.

The contest in Missouri was equally hard-fought. Democrat Claire McCaskill, buoyed by support from actor Michael J. Fox, was declared the winner at about 2 a.m. this morning. The actor has Parkinson's disease and filmed a commercial endorsing McCaskill and her support for embryonic stem cell research. Talent, who supports adult stem cell research, opposed embryonic stem cell research due to concern that it would lead to human cloning.

In Tennessee, in the race to replace retiring Senate majority leader Bill Frist, Ford was attempting to be the first African-American US senator in the South since Reconstruction.