Republican Sen

WASHINGTON -- Aided by an outpouring of support from African-Americans and Latinos as well as a Democratic protest at attacks on President Clinton, Democrats defied the oddsmakers yesterday and fought Republicans to a draw in the Senate.The early upsets were stunning -- in particular the defeat of Republican Sen. Alfonse M. D'Amato in New York -- as one close race after another broke Democratic. Republican dreams of a filibuster-proof, 60-vote majority lay in tatters, although they seemed realistic just weeks ago."

WASHINGTON - Despite his conviction last month on corruption charges, Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, the nation's longest-serving Republican senator, clung tenuously to his seat yesterday as congressional Democrats exulted in their election gains elsewhere around the country. While the Democrats expanded their majorities in the House and the Senate, the outcome of a number of races could remain in doubt for several more weeks. Georgia's Senate race appeared headed for a runoff in December, and the Senate race in Oregon was too close to call.

Republicans and Democrats swapped seats in the narrowly divided U.S. Senate yesterday, but early returns suggested that the GOP will keep its hold on the chamber by sweeping a string of close races in the South. Despite a landslide loss in Illinois and possible defeats in Colorado and Pennsylvania, Republicans appeared to gain seats in Georgia and South Carolina, comfortably led in a race for a Democratic seat in North Carolina and maintained a narrow lead for a Democratic seat in Florida.

The same Democratic wave that made history yesterday by electing Barack Obama to the presidency drowned Republicans in the House and Senate and seemed poised to give Democrats commanding power in Congress. Voters appeared to be looking for someone to blame for the state of the nation and the economy - and their wrath seemed aimed squarely at the GOP. Democrats captured Republican-held Senate seats in Colorado, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, and Virginia, drawing closer to a 60-vote supermajority that would ward off any Republican filibuster - the tactic that allows senators to stonewall bills - and aggressively advance their legislative agenda.

WASHINGTON -- Carol Moseley Braun, a community-level politician, a woman, a black and a symbol of this year's political trends, moved toward a historic place in the U.S. Senate soon after Illinois' polls closed last night.The Democratic Recorder of Deeds in Cook County, who was unknown elsewhere until late last winter, was projected to become the first black woman elected to the Senate.Last March, with the help of deep voter resentment about the Senate fight over Clarence Thomas' Supreme Court nomination, Ms. Braun unseated Sen. Alan J. Dixon in the Democratic primary.

WASHINGTON - Despite his conviction last month on corruption charges, Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, the nation's longest-serving Republican senator, clung tenuously to his seat yesterday as congressional Democrats exulted in their election gains elsewhere around the country. While the Democrats expanded their majorities in the House and the Senate, the outcome of a number of races could remain in doubt for several more weeks. Georgia's Senate race appeared headed for a runoff in December, and the Senate race in Oregon was too close to call.

WASHINGTON -- Suspenseful it was not. And yet, when Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist called for the verdict in President Clinton's impeachment trial, he suddenly placed the weight of history on 100 sets of shoulders in the hushed Senate chamber."

SEATTLE -- Democratic Senate challenger Ron Sims, in a debate here with Republican Sen. Slade Gorton the other day, invoked the name of the man he hoped to work with if he ousts Gorton on Nov. 8. No, not President Clinton. Sims said he was NTC looking forward to cooperating with Republican Sen. John Chafee of Rhode Island.Sims, aware of the uncertain popularity of the Democratic president and the public unhappiness with a Congress led by the Democrats, is painting himself as a model of bipartisanship.

Unlike most hearings on the Hill, last week's meeting of the Joint Economic Committee actually got more interesting the longer it went on. While the first half-hour featured Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke offering his modest, softly downbeat but not panicked predictions about how the unfolding subprime mess would affect the broader economy, the last hour provided an opportunity to hear committee members give their own, often eccentric, diagnoses and...

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court nomination of Judge John G. Roberts Jr. appears unlikely to be blocked by the delaying tactics of a Democratic filibuster, members of a key group of senators said yesterday. Roberts was the topic of conversation when the bipartisan "Gang of 14," which cut a deal in the spring to keep the Senate from melting down over judicial appointments, met privately for about an hour. Afterward, senators from both parties said they saw no indication that a filibuster is a prospect.

Unlike most hearings on the Hill, last week's meeting of the Joint Economic Committee actually got more interesting the longer it went on. While the first half-hour featured Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke offering his modest, softly downbeat but not panicked predictions about how the unfolding subprime mess would affect the broader economy, the last hour provided an opportunity to hear committee members give their own, often eccentric, diagnoses and...

WASHINGTON -- With the Senate sinking into a legislative quagmire over Iraq, lawmakers and their allies are shifting to what has proved to be more solid ground when it comes to the war: political recriminations. Every twist and turn of this week's grinding Senate stalemate was accompanied by a new round of political ads and accusations. Republicans were portrayed as putting loyalty to President Bush before support for strained troops, while Democrats were characterized as being beholden to the ultra-left, as embodied by MoveOn.

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court nomination of Judge John G. Roberts Jr. appears unlikely to be blocked by the delaying tactics of a Democratic filibuster, members of a key group of senators said yesterday. Roberts was the topic of conversation when the bipartisan "Gang of 14," which cut a deal in the spring to keep the Senate from melting down over judicial appointments, met privately for about an hour. Afterward, senators from both parties said they saw no indication that a filibuster is a prospect.

Republicans and Democrats swapped seats in the narrowly divided U.S. Senate yesterday, but early returns suggested that the GOP will keep its hold on the chamber by sweeping a string of close races in the South. Despite a landslide loss in Illinois and possible defeats in Colorado and Pennsylvania, Republicans appeared to gain seats in Georgia and South Carolina, comfortably led in a race for a Democratic seat in North Carolina and maintained a narrow lead for a Democratic seat in Florida.

JACKSON, Miss. - Calling Sen. Trent Lott too politically weakened to do his job, Republican Sen. Don Nickles of Oklahoma called yesterday for new elections to replace Lott as Senate majority leader, a major blow for the embattled Mississippi Republican. Nickles, the assistant Senate Republican leader who has long coveted the top leadership spot, broke with party members who have tried to publicly shore up support for Lott. By day's end, Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska also said GOP senators should address the dispute to determine whether Lott is fit to be the party's leader in the Senate.

WASHINGTON -- It is perhaps the best chance in a generation to reduce the influence of big money in politics. Today, the Senate begins its first serious campaign-finance debate in nearly a decade. Senators in both parties said there is a good prospect that some measure labeled "reform" will eventually win approval. "A lot of people think we're going to pass something," said Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the driving force for change. Far from clear, however, is what a Senate-passed measure might look like, how far it would go to alter the way campaigns are funded and whether it could significantly slow the flow of unlimited money into elections.

JACKSON, Miss. - Calling Sen. Trent Lott too politically weakened to do his job, Republican Sen. Don Nickles of Oklahoma called yesterday for new elections to replace Lott as Senate majority leader, a major blow for the embattled Mississippi Republican. Nickles, the assistant Senate Republican leader who has long coveted the top leadership spot, broke with party members who have tried to publicly shore up support for Lott. By day's end, Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska also said GOP senators should address the dispute to determine whether Lott is fit to be the party's leader in the Senate.

WASHINGTON -- Suspenseful it was not. And yet, when Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist called for the verdict in President Clinton's impeachment trial, he suddenly placed the weight of history on 100 sets of shoulders in the hushed Senate chamber."

WASHINGTON -- Aided by an outpouring of support from African-Americans and Latinos as well as a Democratic protest at attacks on President Clinton, Democrats defied the oddsmakers yesterday and fought Republicans to a draw in the Senate.The early upsets were stunning -- in particular the defeat of Republican Sen. Alfonse M. D'Amato in New York -- as one close race after another broke Democratic. Republican dreams of a filibuster-proof, 60-vote majority lay in tatters, although they seemed realistic just weeks ago."