By Paul A. Anthony, Editor in Chief
The sun was on the other side of the world, so it was up to the talking heads on television to shed light on why Republicans had managed to pull off one of the most historic surprises in American political history.
The GOP outperformed predictions in every case Tuesday night. The party was expected to give up its large majority of governorships. Instead, it maintained a narrow one.
It was expected to barely hold on to the U.S. House; Republicans gained seats in the House. It was expected to maintain its minority status in the Senate. Instead, Republicans hold the clear majority in both houses of Congress.
Political observers and commentators were unsure what the cause was for the Republican sweep, and some debated whether it was a sweep at all. Although the GOP holds slim majorities and the nation is still divided in its sympathies for either party, the party of Lincoln won the vast majority of contested races Tuesday.
Some analysts believe the credit goes to President George W. Bush, who spent the last month before Election Day campaigning heavily for Republicans in close races all over the country.
“His popularity in those states helped,” said Neal Coates, instructor of political science. “That has a lot to do with President Bush.”
Others blame a Democratic party that couldn’t get the public to believe the Republicans were to blame for a poor economy, or to even get America to talk about the economy at all.
But one thing was certain when the last results were final by noon Wednesday: Election Day was a Democratic disaster.
The Senate
Of 11 Senate races that were deemed either too close to call or slightly leaning in one direction, the GOP claimed eight. Among those were pickups in Minnesota, Missouri and Georgia, along with close races in New Hampshire and Colorado that Democrats thought they would win.
Democrats took Arkansas away from the GOP and held on to New Jersey and South Dakota. But that was all.
Most predictions had Democrats gaining one or two seats in the Senate, with the GOP being lucky if it could hold the line with 49 seats. Instead, the GOP now has 51 seats to the Democrats’ 48. A Democratic-voting Independent holds one seat.
The beating was bad enough, but some of the states claimed by the GOP were in races that Democrats believed they would win fairly easily such as Georgia and Minnesota.
What it means
Many commentators have placed the blame squarely at the feet of the man who would be president, Tom Daschle (D-S.D.). Daschle was Senate majority leader until about 12:30 a.m. Wednesday, when Jim Talent defeated Jean Carnahan in Missouri. Carnahan’s term is immediately over, giving Republicans a 50-48-2 advantage for this month’s lame duck session.
Daschle and Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe based their agenda on Bush-bashing, ripping into the president’s handling of the economy. But they did so to the detriment of either Democratic turnout or a coherent Democratic policy.
“McAuliffe is at times vitriolic,” Coates said. “Some say he won’t be chairman in the near future. Instead of attacking the other side, it’s important to produce an alternative policy proposal for debate.”
Before the night was over, commentators already said McAuliffe would be ousted as head of the Democratic party and that Daschle’s 2004 presidential hopes were dead. The likelihood of Daschle staying as Senate minority leader in January is also in doubt.
