posted November 04, 2004 01:46 PM            

Updated: 08:52 AM EST
Democrats Face Months of Soul Searching
By JESSE J. HOLLAND, AP

WASHINGTON (Nov. 4) - Soundly rejected in their attempt to win back control of Congress, Democrats face months of soul searching as they watch Republicans flex their increased power in the House and Senate and celebrate the defeat of one of the Democrats' most visible national leaders.

"We Democrats better think long and hard about what happened ... and how our party is going to connect with the hopes and aspirations of the people," Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., said Wednesday after winning re-election but watching Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., an 18-year Senate veteran, go down in defeat. "We have lost the ability to connect with people's value systems and we're going to have to work to get that back."

With four new seats in the Senate and at least three in the House, Republicans plan to use the boost in support to push their social, tax and economic programs, and President Bush's judicial nominees, possibly including for the Supreme Court.

"That doesn't give us a mandate but it does endorse that we are moving forward in a way that the American people support, and they support in each branch of government," said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn.

Added House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill. "I am looking forward to working with President Bush and with Senate Majority Leader Frist to enact our commonsense agenda."

Minority Democrats, meanwhile, will be forced to play spoiler for at least two years, or more if they don't get their act together.

Republicans will control the next Senate, 55-44, with one independent who sides with the Democrats, and the House, 231-200, with three races still undecided.

"We have lost just about everything that we can lose," said House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of California.

Democrats say they have to figure out how to get their message across in a better way.

"I think that the Democratic party nationally is perceived as being out of step with mainstream values," said Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D. "I want our party to do a better job of speaking to matters of faith and family."

Without changes, some Democrats say, there seems to be little hope of shedding minority status anytime soon.

Daschle's defeat was the first for a Senate party leader since 1952, when Barry Goldwater ousted then-Senate Majority Leader Ernest McFarland. Daschle was the only Senate incumbent to lose, and he did so by fewer than 4,600 votes to former Rep. John Thune, R-S.D., leaving Senate Democrats without a high-profile leader.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., Daschle's No. 2, easily won re-election and said Wednesday he already had votes from 30 colleagues for the top spot, enough to win. Though not viewed as telegenic or inspiring, Reid is seen by many Democrats as a hard worker who has earned the chance. Dodd, who considered running for the leadership job two years ago, said Wednesday that he will not seek a leadership role in the Senate.

Congressional Republicans not only increased in number but they are a more conservative, too, an achievement earned by consolidating their hold on Southern and other GOP-leaning states.

Among the newly minted GOP lawmakers with clear conservative tastes are incoming Sens. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and Jim DeMint of South Carolina, and Reps.-elect Ted Poe and Louis Gohmert of Texas. Most Democratic pickups in the House and Senate came in Democratic-leaning states and districts.

But things might not go smoothly for the GOP in the next Congress.

The likely new chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, moderate Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., already has warned the White House against trying to fill any upcoming Supreme Court vacancies with judges who would try to overturn abortion rights or are too conservative to be supported by Democrats and win confirmation.

"I would expect the president to be mindful of the considerations which I am mentioning," said Specter, who won a fifth, six-year term.

On the Net:

Senate: http://www.senate.gov

House of Representatives: http://www.house.gov

11/04/04 03:38 EST