Down goes Santorum
Casey scores upset over Santorum in Pa.
By TOM RAUM, Associated Press Writer 12 minutes ago
Democrats mounted an aggressive bid Tuesday to wrest control of the Senate from Republicans as they appealed to voter weariness with the Iraq war and the GOP White House.
Democrat Bob Casey defeated incumbent Republican Sen. Rick Santorum (news, bio, voting record) in Pennsylvania.
Political independent Bernie Sanders won the Vermont seat now held by another independent, retiring Sen. James Jeffords, guaranteeing that the next Senate will have at least one independent.
In Indiana, Republican Sen. Dick Lugar, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, coasted to a sixth term. Re-elected in West Virginia to a ninth term was Democratic Sen. Robert C. Byrd (news, bio, voting record), who at 88, is the oldest and longest serving senator in the nation's history, 48 years.
The Senate will have two independents if Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman wins his race. The 2000 Democratic vice presidential candidate, who has supported the Iraq war, ran as an independent after losing the Democratic primary.
Both Sanders, an eight-term congressman who calls himself a socialist, and Lieberman have said they would vote with Democrats for organizational purposes.
Many Senate incumbents of both parties seemed headed toward re-election.
Democrats did not field a candidate against Lugar and he took a 7-to-1 lead early returns against Libertarian candidate Steve Osborn.
Voters filled 33 of the Senate's 100 seats, and the GOP had some leeway. Democrats needed a net pickup of six to recapture the majority that they last briefly exercised in 2001-2002.
Exit polls showed that almost six in ten voters disapproved of the war in Iraq, and an equal percentage said they disapproved of how President Bush was handling his job.
On the ballots were 17 seats now held by Democrats and 15 seats now filled by Republicans, including the Tennessee post of retiring Majority Leader Bill Frist.
The race for Frist's seat, one of four "open" seats this year, became a major contest with heavy national attention. Democratic Rep. Harold Ford (news, bio, voting record) battled Republican Bob Corker, a former mayor of Chattanooga, in hopes of becoming the first black Southerner elected to the Senate in more than a century.
Besides Tennessee and Vermont, other seats without incumbents seeking re-election were in Maryland and Minnesota, both now in Democratic hands.
Along with Tennessee, some of the most fiercely fought races were in Virginia, where Republican incumbent George Allen faced Republican-turned Democrat James Webb, a former Navy secretary; Missouri, where Republican Sen. Jim Talent (news, bio, voting record) faced a strong challenge from Democrat Claire McCaskill, the state auditor, and Rhode Island, where anti-war Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee (news, bio, voting record) was challenged by former state Attorney General Sheldon Whitehouse.
In an unexpectedly hard-fought contest in the heavily Republican Rocky Mountain region, Republican Sen. Conrad Burns (news, bio, voting record) of Montana, tarnished by his dealings with disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, was challenged by Democrat Jon Tester, a farmer and president of the state Senate.
Both parties poured millions of dollars into these contests.
Voting machine problems delayed the count in some states, including in Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Both Ohio and Pennsylvania had hard-fought Senate races.
Ahead of the election, strategists in both parties expected Democratic pickups in Ohio, where Sen. Mike DeWine (news, bio, voting record) faced Democratic Rep. Sherrod Brown (news, bio, voting record).
Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey faced a stiff challenge from Republican Tom Kean Jr., namesake of the former governor. Menendez appeared to be the most challenged of any Democratic incumbent on the ballot.
Among other closely watched races, Democrats hoped for an upset victory in Arizona over Republican Sen. Jon Kyl (news, bio, voting record), challenged by wealthy businessman Jim Pederson.
Democrats and Republicans fought to three possible outcomes: that Republicans would retain their majority, if by a narrower margin; that Democrats would regain control, or that the Senate would divide 50-50 between the two parties.
That has happened only once before in U.S. history, for six months in 2001 before Jeffords switched from Republican to independent, effectively giving Democrats the majority until after the 2002 elections in which Republicans gained two seats.
Republicans now control 55 seats.
When the Senate was 50-50, both parties worked out a power-sharing arrangement under which Republicans maintained control, a nod to the fact that Vice President Dick Cheney could vote to break ties. In exchange, Democrats were given an equal number of seats on all committees and an equal share of funds to hire staff.
