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By: Ian Essling
With embattled Republicans facing issues ranging from scandal and corruption to charges of mishandling the Iraq war, the Democratic party took full advantage of rampant anti-Bush and anti-Republican sentiment among voters, and gained control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate for the first time in twelve years.
Democrats briefly held the Senate between 2001 and 2002 when Jim Jeffords (I-Vt) switched his party affiliation from the GOP to independent.
All but a few House races were decided within two days of the elections, and when the smoke cleared, Democrats had gained 28 seats in the House, enough to take the majority.
Several key Senate races also fell in the Democrats' favor.
Early in the evening, Democrat Bob Casey, Pennsylvania State Treasurer, defeated incumbent firebrand Rick Santorum (R-Pa), a strong proponent of the Iraq war.
Jim Talent (R-Mo) was also knocked out of his seat, in a tight race with Democrat Claire McCaskill. The Missouri race attracted national attention after a campaign ad featuring Michael J. Fox aired supporting McCaskill. The ad was called into question by some conservatives who accused Fox of making his Parkinson's Disease symptoms seem worse than they were. Fox has denied these allegations.
Vote counts went late into the night, but in the end, McCaskill pulled out a 49-47 percent victory over the incumbent Republican.
Montana incumbent Conrad Burns (R-Mt) also lost his seat to Democrat Jon Tester, by a margin of around 3000 votes. Libertarian Stan Jones picked up around 10,000 votes, leading some to speculate that his presence in the race had a significant effect on the outcome. Tester was declared the winner the day after the election, solidifying the Democrat's bid for the Senate majority.
The most controversial and pivotal race turned out to be Virginia. George Allen (R-Va) was trying to hold off the attack of James Webb, a former Navy secretary who served during the Ronald Reagan administration. Virginia law called for an automatic recount when Webb won by only 7000 votes, but by Thursday afternoon Allen had conceded the seat.
Of the four main power players in the Senate race, only Tennessee was held by the GOP, where Bob Corker (R-Tn) staved off the challenge of Harold Ford 51-48 percent.
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