Republicans win House; Democrats keep Senate

WASHINGTON (AP)  – Republicans vowed Wednesday to roll back some of President Barack Obama's biggest policy initiatives  – health care included  – as they flexed their muscles a day after sweeping into the majority in House of Representatives and whittling away the Democrat margin in the Senate.
Tuesday's elections delivered a stinging blow to Obama and his Democrats, reflecting Americans' anxiety about their livelihoods and anger about the economy, with unemployment hovering around 10 percent. The outcome was the House's biggest party turnover in more than 70 years.
Obama now faces the potential for legislative gridlock that could stymie his agenda in the final half of his term. Even with his Democrats in control of both chambers of Congress, he spent his first two years battling to pass legislation.
Hours after the Republicans' win, Republican Rep. John Boehner, who is destined to become the House leader in January, claimed a voter mandate to roll back the Obama administration's health care overhaul, calling it a “monstrosity.” Trying to do that, however, was likely to prove futile with Democrats still in control of the Senate. Obama also still holds his veto power and the Republicans do not have sufficient numbers to override.
Boehner pledged that Republicans will use their new House majority to seek a “smaller, less costly, and more accountable government.” He said he hoped Obama would join them.
“We hope he is willing to work with us on these priorities. But as I have said, our new majority will be the voice of the American people as they expressed it so clearly yesterday,” Boehner said at a late morning news conference.
The elections were also the biggest test yet of the two-year-old ultraconservative tea party movement, angered by what it sees as the excessive growth of government. It produced a crop of Republican candidates often at odds with the party establishment, and some of them won key races.
For the Republican Party, there was no historical precedent to guide them in their dealings with these new tea party-backed members of Congress, who were likely to demand radically conservative legislative solutions to the country's problems.
Incomplete returns showed the Republican Party picked up at least 60 House seats and led for four more, far in excess of what was needed for a majority. About two dozen races remained too close to call. The Republicans' victory eclipsed the 54-seat pickup by the so-called “revolution” that retook the House in 1994 for the first time in 40 years and the 56-seat Republican gain in 1946.
On their night of triumph, Republicans also gained at least six Senate seats  – among them were tea party favorites Rand Paul in Kentucky, Mike Lee in Utah and Marco Rubio in Florida.
All 435 seats in the House were on Tuesday's ballot, plus 37 in the Senate. Also, 37 states chose governors.
By midmorning Wednesday, the Republicans had captured 239 House seats and were leading for four more, while Democrats had won 184 and led for eight.
As Obama digested the not-unexpected change in fortunes, he telephoned Boehner and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell with congratulations.
Obama was holding a press conference Wednesday at the White House.
In the Senate, Republicans won at least six seats now held by Democrats. Among them was Obama's old seat in Illinois, captured by a congressman, Rep. Mark Kirk.
Democrats did win one of the most-closely watched races, with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid defeating Sharron Angle, a favorite of the tea party movement. Democrats also retained seats targeted by Republicans in West Virginia and California, where liberal incumbent Barbara Boxer defeated former Hewlett-Packard chief executive Carly Fiorina.
Republicans needed to gain 10 seats to take control of the 100-member Senate. As of early Wednesday, Democrats had 51 seats, including two independents, to 46 for Republicans. Three races were not yet decided  – in Alaska, Colorado and Washington state.
The Republican gains will complicate Obama's ability to enact his proposals during the last two years of his term and possibly force him to fight off attacks on health care legislation and other bills already signed into law.
Although international affairs had little role in the campaign, Obama's global agenda also would be affected in areas such as arms control and climate change.
Before the first results began rolling in, Washington already was buzzing with speculation about whether Republican gains would lead to gridlock or attempts to find common ground, and how they would affect Obama's prospects for re-election in 2012.
Besides the congressional vote, Republicans were making gains in the 37 governors' races at stake Tuesday, capturing at least 11 governorships from Democrats and several state legislatures. Democrats gained four Republican-held governorships  – in California, Connecticut, Vermont and Hawaii. The vote count continued in three governors' races that were too close to call.
In the Senate, tea-party backed candidate Cuban-American Marco Rubio, a Cuban-American, won in a three-way race in Florida. Nikki Haley, an Indian-American, won the South Carolina governorship. But the tea party may have cost Republicans two Senate seats, in Delaware and Nevada, after Democratic candidates worked to convince voters that their opponents were too extreme.
Among the Senate races yet to be called was one in Alaska, where Joe Miller, a candidate supported by the tea party and former Gov. Sarah Palin, faces a strong write-in challenge from the incumbent he defeated in the Republican primary, Lisa Murkowski. Democrat Scott McAdams is trailing in third place. The two other races, in Washington state and Colorado, remain too close to call.
The new Congress will begin its session in January. Later this month, the current members, including those voted out of office, will go back to work to finish out their terms in what is known as a lame duck session.
While the newly empowered Republicans will likely want to delay major issues until the new Congress is seated, there are many important measures that are still pending, such as tax cuts set to expire this year and a proposal to reverse the military's ban on openly gay servicemembers.
One big foreign policy issue that is pending is the new START treaty signed by Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in April. It calls for big cuts in nuclear arms and would replace a similar treaty that expired last year. The Senate must ratify the treaty with 67 votes. The Russians have said ratification is a key to the success of Obama's desire to reset relations with Moscow, which deteriorated badly under former President George W. Bush.