Senate Hinges On Virginia, Montana

The battle for the Senate hung on a few thousand cliffhanger votes in two states Wednesday, long after polls closed in an election that swept Democrats into power in the House and delivered a rebuke of GOP scandal, the Iraq war and the course of a nation.

A succession of tainted Republicans lost seats as their leaders lost power, a stinging referendum on the ways of Washington. A large majority of voters surveyed across the country said their disgust with corruption influenced their choice.

Democrats took solid control in the House, rebounding after a dozen years in the minority, and dismantled most if not all of the GOP Senate majority.

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, set to become the first female speaker in history, said on Wednesday that American voters "spoke for change and they spoke for a new direction for all Americans."

She said voters specifically demanded a change in course on the war in Iraq and urged Mr. Bush "to listen to the voice of the people."

"Democrats are prepared to lead," she told a news conference in the Capitol. "We are prepared to govern in a bipartisan way."

President Bush called Pelosi with congratulations Wednesday morning after Democrats took firm control of the House, rebounding after a dozen years in the minority.

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."

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President Bush will hold a press conference at 1 p.m. CBS News will provide live coverage of and a Web cast will be available on CBSNews.com.

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Democrats must win both of those races to take over the Senate. If they were to win one seat, it would produce a 50-50 Senate — including two independents expected to vote with the Democrats — with Vice President Dick Cheney wielding tie-breaking authority.

As of Wednesday morning, in Virginia the race between Republican incumbent Sen. George Allen and Democrat James Webb appeared likely to be decided by absentee ballots. With almost every precinct reporting, Webb had a lead of about 7,800 votes, or three-tenths of a percent.

Teams of lawyers, political consultants and party volunteers prepared to start work as soon as local voter registrars' offices opened Wednesday. At stake were results from four precincts, reporting some absentee ballots and canvassing the totals.

Webb, a former Navy secretary under Ronald Reagan, claimed victory on the basis of the tiny lead but Allen was not conceding.

There are no automatic recounts in Virginia, but state law allows a candidate who finishes a half-percentage point or less behind to request a recount paid for by state and local governments.

With a margin greater than that but less than 1 percentage point, the trailing candidate can also seek a recount, but would have to pay the costs if the results are unchanged.

A final count, including all absentee ballots, was expected later Wednesday; no exact numbers on outstanding absentee ballots were immediately available.

But, as CBS News correspondent Wyatt Andrews reports that a recount can't formally be requested until the vote is certified on November 27th, so the final decision may not be resolved for weeks.

In Montana, Democrat Jon Tester held a 1,700 vote lead Wednesday over GOP Sen. Conrad Burns with almost all precincts reporting.

Vote tallies were still coming in Wednesday morning, more than 10 hours after polls were scheduled to close a situation caused by equipment glitches, high turnout and a recount in Yellowstone County because of errors there.

A losing candidate can request a recount at his own expense if the margin is within 1/2 of a percent, which would be a margin off roughly 2,000 votes in the race. If the margin is less than 1/4 of a percent, the state and the counties will pick up the tab.

"The lead is narrow but I think we're in a position to win," Tester said on CBS News' The Early Show "I feel very, very confident about the results of this campaign when all the votes are counted."

Exit polls showed voters perceived the battle for the House as a nationalized election, with most voters saying national issues outweighed local ones.

Most said Mr. Bush was a factor in their vote, and more cast ballots to oppose him than to support him. Most voters said they were angry or dissatisfied with the administration.

A majority of voters, 56 percent, said they disapproved of the war in Iraq. As expected, voters who supported the war backed Republicans and those who disapproved of it backed Democrats.

"It is all about the president and the war in Iraq," said CBS News chief Washington correspondent Bob Schieffer.

Most voters said they had made up their minds about their votes last month or before.

"We're seeing a huge turn in independent voters to the Democrats," said CBS News political consultant Stu Rothenberg. "National exit polls show a significant advantage for Democratic candidates."

Democrats picked up four of the six Senate seats they needed to form a majority in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Missouri.

On the House side, Republican incumbents went down in nearly every region of the country. The Democrats will win at least 27 Republican-held seats, according to the latest CBS News estimates.

Ethics woes were clearly taking their toll on the GOP.

Republicans surrendered the Ohio seat once held by Bob Ney, who resigned after pleading guilty in a lobbying scandal, and the Florida seat of Mark Foley, who stepped down after the disclosure that he sent sexually explicit messages to male congressional pages.

In Pennsylvania, Democrats defeated Curt Weldon in the fallout from a federal corruption investigation. They also ousted Don Sherwood, who admitted to a long-term affair with a much younger woman who says he choked her.

The election results pose a difficult challenge for the president.

"The challenge is that almost all moderate Republicans in the House and even some in the Senate are wiped out," said CBS News political consultant Norm Ornstein. "If you move to the middle, there are some Republicans you'll have to convince to move with you. Bush will also have to work with Democratic leaders who don't like him and don't trust him. And the feeling is mutual."

Despite the Democrats' victory, Pelosi also faces a tough job ahead.

"These democrats that were elected last night are conservative Democrats. They are not like some of the liberal fire brands in the house right now," Schieffer added. "So she has to bring those two groups together and make them a cohesive force, or else what you will see is a Republican president reaching out to the conservative democrats and forming coalitions."

Democrats also won a majority of the statehouses, including Massachusetts, where Deval Patrick becomes the state's first black chief executive.

Voters also filled state legislative seats and decided hundreds of statewide ballot initiatives. In South Dakota, a measure that would ban nearly all abortions in the state was voted down.

A closely-watched high-profile amendment to guarantee that all federally allowed stem cell research can occur in Missouri, including on human embryos, passed with about 51 percent support.