GOP battles to keep control of Senate

Alan Fram

Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2000 | 4:41 a.m.

WASHINGTON - Republicans fought Tuesday to retain control of the Senate while Democrats pinned upset hopes on ousting an unusually large number of vulnerable GOP incumbents.

Sen. Zell Miller, D-Ga., appointed to replace the late GOP Sen. Paul Coverdell, easily won the remaining four years in Coverdell's term. By capturing more than half the vote in a field of seven candidates, the popular former governor averted a Nov. 28 runoff.

Two GOP Senate committee chairmen also breezed to re-election. Agriculture Committee Chairman Richard Lugar of Indiana won a fifth six-year term, and Health and Education Committee Chairman James Jeffords of Vermont was given a third term. And Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, won a second term.

Democrat Bill Nelson, the Florida insurance commissioner, had at least an even chance of grabbing the seat vacated by outgoing GOP Sen. Connie Mack.

The only Democratic incumbent who seemed in peril was Virginia's two-term Sen. Charles Robb, son-in-law of President Lyndon Johnson. Robb faced a fellow former governor of the GOP-trending Old Dominion, Republican George Allen.

Republicans held a 54-46 edge before the voting, meaning Democrats needed to gain five seats to recapture the majority they lost in 1994.

The biggest spotlights were on two women, first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, who held a lead in New York, and Jean Carnahan, who would be appointed in Missouri if voters elected her husband, who died last month.

At the request of Democrats, a judge ordered a three-hour extension of voting in Democratic-leaning St. Louis as voters jammed polling places.

Of the Senate's 34 contested seats, 19 were defended by Republicans, giving Democrats more targets for potential pickups. Incumbent GOP senators facing especially strong Democratic challenges were Senate Finance Committee Chairman William Roth of Delaware and John Ashcroft of Missouri, plus others in Michigan, Minnesota, Montana and Washington.

The day's highest-profile fight pitted first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton against Republican Rep. Rick Lazio in New York. That expensive contest drew donors from across the country in what was partly an emotional proxy referendum on Bill Clinton and his presidency.

Perhaps the greatest drama involved the Missouri seat. Ashcroft's opponent, Democratic Gov. Mel Carnahan, died in an Oct. 16 plane crash, and Mrs. Carnahan said she would accept the new governor's offer to appoint her if her husband outpolled Ashcroft.

Holding the majority would give the Republicans their first eight-year stretch of Senate supremacy since the 1932 elections ended 14 years of unbroken GOP control.

Based on history, neither party expected the presidential candidates to have much impact on the Senate struggle. The last time a winning presidential candidate's party also gained Senate seats was Ronald Reagan's 1980 GOP landslide.

New Jersey was home to the costliest two-candidate Senate race ever as Democrat Jon Corzine, an investment banker, was spending $60 million of his own fortune. He was having trouble dispatching four-term GOP Rep. Bob Franks, despite outspending him by 10-1.

Democrats were defending four of the five Senate seats being vacated by retirees: New York, New Jersey, Nebraska and Nevada.

Nevada looked likely to fall into the GOP column with former Rep. John Ensign.

Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., Gore's running mate, was a cinch to retain his Senate seat. But a Gore victory would make Lieberman vice president, opening the door for GOP Connecticut Gov. John Rowland to name a Republican to replace him in the Senate.

A Bush victory would make Dick Cheney vice president, in line to break any tie votes in the Senate. Either way, Democrats needed 51 Senate seats to be assured of a majority.

In one of the day's least suspenseful contests, Democrat Robert Byrd of West Virginia cruised to his eighth 6-year term. The Senate's longevity record is the 45 years, 3 months served by Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., who is still in the Senate.