Nov. 8, 2006
Democrats Seize Control Of House
Sailing On Rising Tide Of Voter Outrage, Democrats Win Majority Rule
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Play CBS Video Video Pelosi: Votes Speak For Change CBS News RAW: House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi spoke about the change in the country's direction that's expected after Democrats take control of the House.
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Video Pelosi Pledges New Direction CBS News RAW: With the Democrats projected to take control of the House of Representatives, Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi promised to lead the country in a new direction.
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Video Montana's Tester On Close Race The race for the majority in the Senate is still up in the air and it's come down to Virginia and Montana. Rene Syler speaks with candidate Jon Tester, D-Mont., who leads by about 2,000 votes.
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Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) speaks in a press conference the day after Democrats took control of the House for the first time in 12 years. (CBS)
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Democrat Heath Shuler gives a thumbs up to supporters after winning the 11th Congressional District of North Carolina in Asheville, N.C., Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2006. Shuler defeated incumbent Rep. Charles Taylor. (AP)
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Photo Essay To The Polls Across the U.S., voters exercise their right to choose.
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Interactive Election Briefing Book Info on the races, voting statistics, and more from the CBS News Election & Survey Unit.
The victory ends 12 years of Republican rule of an institution that had become plagued by bitterness and scandal, and clears the way for Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to become the country's first female House speaker.
"We certainly have a mandate for making this place more honest, making it operate in a more civilized way," Rep. Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday,
Democrats won 28 seats previously held by Republicans, giving them a 230-198 lead with 7 races left undecided, according to CBS News. Also, with Georgia Democrat Jim Marshall's successful defense of his seat, the Democrats have lost no House seats in the 2006 election, CBS News reports. The last time a party did not lose a House seat in an election was 1938.
President Bush called Pelosi with congratulations Wednesday morning after Democrats took firm control of the House.
Pelosi said she told Mr. Bush she was ready to work with him. "The success of the president is always good for the country, and I hope that we could work together for the American people. He said he thought that would happen and we would talk about it over lunch tomorrow."
"You could make the case that this is an opportunity for Bush," says CBS News political consultant Norm Ornstein. "The first reaction after Democrats were wiped out in '94 was that it would be the end of the presidency for Clinton, but it ended up being a savior. Things got done. It gives Bush an opportunity to create a majority in the middle. Now, he has to take advantage of this opportunity, but Democrats have a strong incentive in getting legislative successes, especially because many won by small margins in Republican territories."
Pelosi said she had also spoken to the man she will replace, current Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., who she said was "very gracious" in defeat. "I said, 'You know, I enjoyed so much giving him the gavel that I was looking forward to him having that pleasure.'"
The election results give Democrats power in the House for the first time since 1994, when a rebellious GOP captured 54 seats to end a four-decade reign by Democrats.
Pelosi will be formally re-elected as her party's leader, and its nominee to be speaker, when the Democratic caucus meets on Nov. 16 to choose its standard-bearers for the next Congress.
Meanwhile, Democrats took control of GOP Senate seats in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Missouri amd Montana, according to CBS News. Democrats would only need to take the remaining seat, Virginia, to assume control of the Senate.
Ornstein notes the challenge facing Democrats in this new Congressional power balance as they deal with President Bush. "Bush will have to work with Democratic leaders who don't like him and don't trust him. And the feeling is mutual," Ornstein says.
According to CBS News exit polls, voters said national issues outweighed local ones by roughly 2-to-1. Exit polls showed that nearly 60 percent of voters disapprove of the Iraq war. And despite recent controversies with high-charged political attack ads and continuing revelations in the Mark Foley scandal, most voters said their minds were made up at least a month ago.
Pelosi represents one of the most liberal districts in the nation and is notable for her sharp criticisms of the Bush administration.
"Pelosi will have a full-time job just keeping her caucus together. The Democrats are badly fractured on fundamental issues," says CBS News Democratic political consultant Harrison Hickman. "The leadership is very much further to the left than the members."
As results came in on Election Night, CBS News said the 15th and clinching seat win for Democrats came in Florida with Tim Mahoney's defeat of Republican Mark Foley, whose name remained on the ballot even though he had resigned several weeks earlier when it was revealed he had sent inappropriate e-mails and IMs to a House page.
Scandal also played a role in Democrat Nick Lampson's capture of former Republican House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's seat in Texas. DeLay left Congress following his alleged involvement in the Jack Abramoff-lobbying scandal.
However, Republican Tom Reynolds of New York, a key figure in the page scandal, avoided defeat, beating out Democrat Jack Davis.
Overcoming his staunch support of the Iraq war — which proved a powerful handicap among many Connecticut voters — incumbent Republican Christopher Shays managed a slim victory over Democratic challenger Diane Farrell.
The first pickup of a Republican seat was in Indiana, where county sheriff Brad Ellsworth was the winner over GOP incumbent John Hostettler, a leading voice for social conservatives who was first elected in 1994. Also, Nancy Johnson, Connecticut's longest-serving House member, lost her re-election bid and five-term Congressman Jim Ryun, R-Kan., lost his seat.
Former NFL quarterback Heath Shuler, a Democrat, defeated Republican Charles Taylor in North Carolina and Iraq war veteran Patrick Murphy beat Republican incumbent Michael Fitzpatrick in Pennsylvania, CBS News estimates.
Republican Richard Pombo of California was defeated by Democrat Jerry McNerney.
Other Democratic takeovers of Republican-held seats were:
"The old era of irresponsibility is over, and the new era of real reform has just begun," declared Rep. Rahm Emanuel, the Illinois Democrat who oversaw his party's House campaign.
Republicans spent months trying to beat back well-funded Democratic opponents in districts stretching from New Hampshire to California. In the campaign's homestretch, Democrats widened the battlefield by going after Republicans in states that historically have been solid GOP territory, including Arizona, Indiana, Iowa, New Hampshire, North Carolina and Kansas.
Scandals that have dogged Republicans appeared to hurt Republican incumbents even more than Mr. Bush's unpopularity and the nearly four-year-old war in Iraq.
Republicans surrendered the Ohio seat once held by Bob Ney, who resigned after pleading guilty in a lobbying scandal. In Pennsylvania, Democrats defeated both Curt Weldon, who was caught in the fallout from a federal corruption investigation, and Don Sherwood, who admitted to a long-term affair with a much younger woman who says he choked her.
All 435 House seats were up for grabs Tuesday.
"We're seeing a huge turn in independent voters to the Democrats. National exit polls show a significant advantage for Democratic candidates," says CBS News political consultant Stu Rothenberg.
©MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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- If the Independent voter is such a powerbroker, then why do they have to vote for candidates that are forced upon them by the other two parties? Time to run their own people for office. Want to scare the hell out of the Dems/Reps???? Try that! Joe Lieberman did, and proved an independent can win.
- Reply to this comment
- "I noticed they were unusually absent. it's kind of nice in a way and too bad in another."
It's a lot more peaceful around here that's for sure. But also a little less fun. - Reply to this comment
- Democrats need to clean house over the foley deal the ones that lied and covered up need to go.
If anything like this happens again out the door doesn't matter which side of aisle - Reply to this comment
HALLELUJAH!
"Mission accomplished"- Reply to this comment
- Anyone heard from Angry, One-American or gslinger today?
Must be in the midst of a crying jag.
Either that or numbing themselves with whatever it is that these wingers numb themselves with.
Posted by shingles1 at 04:01 PM : Nov 08, 2006
I noticed they were unusually absent. it's kind of nice in a way and too bad in another. - Reply to this comment
- Day of Reckoning
- Reply to this comment
- Anyone heard from Angry, One-American or gslinger today?
Must be in the midst of a crying jag.
Either that or numbing themselves with whatever it is that these wingers numb themselves with. - Reply to this comment
- huskerarmy-hello. she does look great. I saw her interviewed on Letterman awhile ago and I was really impressed. she promised to turn bush into a lame duck if we did what we did today.
- Reply to this comment
- Tread carefully Democrats! Do not accept the smiling faces and outstretched hands of these corrupt scoundrels you have DEFEATED. They told your fellow countrymen that you were nothing but traitors and cowards, and they meant it.
They have looted your treasury and sent your brave young men to die needlessly, while denying your patriotism because you questioned their
radical ideas. Their ideas have been failures. They will never admit it.
Rule with strength and demand accountability for these failures.
NEVER FORGET how resolute, defiant, stubborn and ruthless the right wing has been in advancing the agendas of corporations, special interests, and big government's raw power along with their own perpetuity and greed.
This is how resolute and ruthless you must now be in defending the Americans who have made you their best hope.
Impeach Cheney First. - Reply to this comment
- Hey RedSox,
Doesn't Nancy Pelosi look great as Madame Speaker? - Reply to this comment
- "Gone was the smirk, the annoying swagger, and the bullying tone. What an actor."
The decider/divider no longer wants the Dems to "bring it on?" - Reply to this comment
- "Haven't you heard, lying is not working for you anymore"
LOL - Reply to this comment
- "They have consistenly made the point that we need to bring our troops home. If that is so, stop the funding. They have voted to continue the war by passing the funding bills. I know they won't "stay the course" by the contining the funding for something they don't believe in."
Winstrv,
Haven't you heard, lying is not working for you anymore. The Dems have not said bring them home now. They have said that we need to hold the Iraqi government accountable, demand that they stand up as we stand down and give them a time frame for doing so. That does not mean "cut and run," and it would be inappropriate for funding to stop immediately. The good news is that we will be leaving Iraq sooner than if yesterday hadn't happened. - Reply to this comment
- machnews-I seriously hope you have at least one kid in Iraq then
- Reply to this comment
- Sorry Machnews but anyone who thinks Bush is doing a great job is not going to be listened to by many.
Like rsoxfan, I have had some of my faith restored in the intelligence of Americans, that is except for Machnews (his must be single digit). - Reply to this comment
- machnews,
Wake up. You've been dreaming. The voters aren't a bunch of communist traitors. You don't have the slightest clue what you're talking about. - Reply to this comment
- PEOPLE BUY YOUR
GUNS & AMMUNITION
WHILE YOU STILL CAN..!
(Don't foget food too - 2-3 yrs) - Reply to this comment
- I hope the voters who voted for change in the congress and put the hypocritical democrats in charge of congress are happy with themselves. The news media did a goodjob of helping thier buddies to take control of congress. I am one voter who doesn't like being lumbed with the change the course voters. I voted to stay the course. Bush is doing a grear job as president and handling the war in Iraq. I am just sorry that voters put a bunch of hypocrits in power in congress.
- Reply to this comment
- CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM - back to one person one vote, personal contributions only, matching public funds - no corporate contributions, no soft money,
CORRUPTION - Whether REP or DEM - root it out
PAYOFFS - root them out and force receivers out.
EARMARKS - banned
SIGNING INSTRUCTIONS - banned
- Reply to this comment
- The Republicans are a %u201Cculture of corruption.%u201D
until the DEMOCRATS are elected
then PELSOSI says they are going to work with the REPUBLICANS...
If it ends up being business as usual...
...Maybe we should be IMPEACHING PELSOSI...
so we end up with our POLICE STATE
...Maybe we should FIRST IMPEACH PELSOSI... - Reply to this comment
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