Huge victory for GOP and President Bush

Chicago Sun-Times ^ | 11/6/02 | ROBERT NOVAK

[Tumbleweed_Connection]

The continued Republican control of the House and the recapturing of the Senate constitute a major political victory for George W. Bush.

With the exception of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1936, first-term presidents usually lose seats in Congress in their midterm elections--massive losses in the case of Bill Clinton eight years ago. As the leader of the war against terrorism, President Bush turned back the usual course of history despite a soft economy.

Democrats suffered two massive blows early in the evening in their bid to hold onto the Senate.

In New Hampshire, Rep. John E. Sununu (R) saved a Republican seat from a determined challenge by Gov. Jeanne Shaheen (D). Winning this seat was considered essential for Democrats to offset expected Republican takeovers in other states.

In Georgia, Rep. Saxby Chambliss (R) was piling up a substantial lead over Sen. Max Cleland (D), a race that nobody even thought would be close. A turnaround in Georgia signified a major step toward renewed Republican control of the Senate.

Recapturing the Senate and retaining the House is an enormous victory for Bush in more than prestige. It would give the president an opportunity to revive his stalled legislative program, not to mention his federal judicial appointments.

The biggest setback for the president in the midterm election was the loss of long-held governorships in major states--Illinois, Michigan and Pennsylvania--all by large margins. But Republican governors in these states did not result in their being carried by Bush in 2000, and Democrats in the Statehouse in 2004 may not guarantee that a Democratic presidential candidate will carry those states.

The maintenance of Republican control of the House for the fifth straight election was never in doubt. Early on Tuesday evening when the Indiana polls closed, the upset victory of businessman Chris Chicola from a previously held South Bend seat pointed to a clear Republican victory.

This was a personal triumph for President Bush in more ways than one--especially in his many trips to Florida to campaign for the re-election of his brother, Gov. Jeb Bush. Targeted by Democratic National Chairman Terry McAuliffe, the younger Bush won in a landslide.

Beyond the president, however, this was a crushing defeat for Democrats. Party activists grumbled that the party presented no clear platform, and there will be a major reappraisal by Democrats.

Perhaps the most embarrassing defeat was Maryland Democratic Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend's gubernatorial loss to Rep. Bob Ehrlich (D). He becomes the first Republican governor of this heavily Democratic state since the election of Spiro T. Agnew in 1966.

The Democratic problem may have been typified by Massachusetts, where Republican businessman Mitt Romney was elected governor over State Treasurer Shannon O'Brien, a woman but also a symbol of the old Statehouse crowd.

[KC_Conspirator]

And Novak predicted none of this. I like Novak, but he is just too Beltway for me.

[Mark]

Finally! We can now set up our agenda to take away SS, starve the chilrun, take away seniors' medicine, etc.....(other liberal labels).

[Verginius Rufus]

The midterm election during FDR's first term was in 1934, not 1936.

In 1934 the Democrats already controlled both Houses of Congress, but increased their margins (slightly in the House, significantly in the Senate). I think you have to go back to 1794, during the other George W.'s second term, to find a case when the party holding the Presidency recaptured a House of Congress in the off-year elections which it had not already controlled.