Coattails carry Republicans

Republicans marched toward continued control of the House on Tuesday and Democrats fought to defend their slender Senate majority in midterm elections. President Bush's brother coasted to a new term as governor of Florida.\nRepublicans won two high-profile Senate races, Elizabeth Dole prevailing in North Carolina and John Sununu in New Hampshire.\nIn Maryland, Robert Ehrlich was elected governor -- the first Republican in more than three decades. In Illinois, Rep. Rod Blagojevich captured the statehouse for the Democrats for the first time in more than a quarter century.\nDemocrats needed to gain seven seats to win control of the House, and the trend was against them.\nRepublican Rep. Anne Northup won a new term in Kentucky, while Democratic Rep. Karen Thurman trailed narrowly in Florida. In Indiana, the Republican candidate led for a Democratic open seat, and the GOP retained an open seat in New Hampshire.\nAt the White House, Bush made a round of congratulatory telephone calls -- including one to his younger brother in Florida. The president campaigned in 23 states over the final five weeks of the campaign, hoping to elect congressional candidates who could advance his legislative agenda over the next two years and for gubernatorial hopefuls who could aid his re-election in 2004.\nHe and the Republicans battled history as well as Democrats in the congressional races.\nThe president's party had lost House seats in every midterm election except three in the past century, an average of 30 seats. The average midterm loss of Senate seats was four.\nBut the GOP had advantages, as well. These included a political landscape transformed by the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and a president whose approval ratings remained at enviable levels despite a sputtering economy.\nRepublicans also enjoyed financial superiority. A Federal Election Commission analysis said the Republican National Committee and its congressional campaign arms had outraised their Democratic counterparts by $184 million through mid-October.\nIn the last campaign of a free-spending era, all 435 House seats were on the ballot, as well as 34 Senate seats and three dozen statehouse races. Voters filled state legislatures and school boards, decided whether to legalize possession of small amounts of marijuana in Nevada, and settled countless ballot issues elsewhere.\nDemocrats, too, campaigned with one eye on the next election, none more so than Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri, the party's House leader and a likely presidential contender in two years.\nEven the top gubernatorial races had presidential overtones. Democrats made defeat of the president's brother in Florida a top priority, seeking a victory in the state that was at the center of the nation's convulsive White House contest in 2000.\nIn all, Republicans defended 23 of the 36 governorships on the ballot, while Democrats were defending 11. Two seats were held by outgoing independents.\nThe GOP was defending 20 Senate seats, to 14 for the Democrats.\nBesides Dole, who succeeds a retiring Sen. Jesse Helms in North Carolina, Republican Lindsey Graham won the South Carolina seat of retiring Sen. Strom Thurmond. Lamar Alexander kept a Tennessee seat in Republican hands.\nSenators winning re-election included Democrats John Kerry in Massachusetts, Richard Durbin in Illinois; Jay Rockefeller in West Virginia, Joseph Biden in Rhode Island, Jack Reed in Rhode Island, Carl Levin in Michigan and Max Baucus in Montana.\nSen. Frank Lautenberg was elected to the Senate from New Jersey, two years after retiring, and less than a month after he replaced Sen. Robert Torricelli on the ballot.\nRepublican winners of new terms included Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Thad Cochran of Mississippi, John Warner of Virginia, Pat Roberts of Kansas, Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, Jeff Sessions of Alabama, Mike Enzi of Wyoming, James Inhofe of Oklahoma, Susan Collins in Maine and Pete Domenici in New Mexico.\nDemocratic Sen. Tim Johnson battled Rep. John Thune in South Dakota, and Democratic Sen. Jean Carnahan ran against former Rep. Jim Talent in a bid for the four years remaining on her late husband's term in Missouri. Embattled GOP incumbents included Sen. Tim Hutchinson, up against Mark Pryor in Arkansas; and Wayne Allard, in a Colorado rematch with Tom Strickland.\nIn Minnesota, former Vice President Walter F. Mondale sought a return to the Senate in a race against former St. Paul Mayor Norm Coleman. Mondale took his place on the ballot less than a week before the election, following the death of Democratic Sen. Paul Wellstone.\nAnd in New Jersey, former Sen. Frank Lautenberg replaced Sen. Bob Torricelli on the ballot in October.\nThe battle for House control came down to roughly 40 competitive districts, races scattered across the country where the parties spent millions in campaign advertising --much of it negative -- in search of an edge.\nSeveral were new seats, the result of redistricting mandated by the Constitution to adjust House districts for population shifts. Others were seats left open by incumbents who retired or sought other office.