Many Americans went to bed Tuesday night having watched the Democratic party take the U.S. House of Representatives and knowing that control of the Senate hinged on close races in Virginia and Montana.
Montana voters ousted Republican Sen. Conrad Burns by a slim margin, Wednesday returns show. But in Virginia, incumbent Sen. George Allen refused to concede defeat even as challenger Jim Webb named himself senator-elect.
The Associated Press called the race for Webb Wednesday night. About 7,300 votes gave Webb a slim lead with roughly 94.8 percent of precincts reporting, according to Virginia’s unofficial results.
If the final count shows less than one percent of the votes cast for the candidates separating them, the apparent loser could ask for a recount under Virginia law. Yet the state’s two recounts in modern history both resulted in vote changes of no more than a few hundred votes.
Even President Bush conceded the success of Democratic candidates in congressional and gubernatorial races during a press conference Wednesday, hours after he announced the resignation of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld – head of U.S. strategy for Iraq.
“If you look at race by race, it was close,” Bush told reporters. “The cumulative effect, however, was not too close. It was a thumping. But nevertheless, the people expect us to work together.”
Democratic party leaders had attributed their midterm election victories to Bush’s Iraq war policy and the perception of corruption within the Republican party.
Pundits had speculated about Rumsfeld becoming a Bush administration sacrifice as public support wanes for the intensifying conflict in Iraq, and Democrats in Congress had been calling for Rumsfeld’s resignation for months, asserting that his management of the war and of the military had been a resounding failure.
The White House hopes that replacing Rumsfeld can refresh U.S. policy on the war and improve rapport with Congress, where Rumsfeld had a rocky relationship with some lawmakers.
“Secretary Rumsfeld and I agreed that sometimes it’s necessary to have a fresh perspective,” Bush said during a post-election news conference.
Bush tapped Robert Gates, a former CIA director from his father’s administration, as Rumsfeld’s replacement.
President of Texas A&M University, Gates, 63, has held a variety of national security posts under six previous presidents.
He is a Bush family friend and member of an independent group studying the way ahead in Iraq.
“The secretary of defense must be a man of vision who can see threats still over the horizon and prepare our nation to meet them. Bob Gates is the right man to meet both of these critical challenges,” Bush said.
Yet Bush defended continued U.S. presence in Iraq, saying he would “like our troops to come home, too, but I want them to come home with victory.”
Rumsfeld described the Iraq conflict as a “little understood, unfamiliar war” that is “complex for people to comprehend.”
“It will be a different Congress, a different environment, moving toward a presidential election and a lot of partisanship, and it struck me that this would be a good thing for everybody,” Rumsfeld told reporters.
Just last week, Bush told reporters that he expected Rumsfeld, 74, to remain until the end of the administration’s term.
Sen. John Warner, R-Va., chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said he hopes to hold Gates’ confirmation hearings in time for the Senate to approve his nomination this year. But senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada, whose party would control the Senate next year should it win the race in Virginia, said he had questions about Gates’ ties to the Iran-Contra scandal of the Reagan administration.
Rumsfeld twice offered his resignation to Bush -once during the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal, in spring 2004, and again shortly afterward.
Rumsfeld held the post longer than anyone except Robert McNamara, and is the only one to have served in the position twice. He previously acted as secretary for the Ford administration.
Oregon results
In Oregon, Democrats took control of the Legislature by a slim margin, after wins in four key races gave them a 31-29 majority in the House.
It will be the state’s first Democratic-held Legislature in more than a decade.
Legislators will work with re-elected Democratic Gov. Ted Kulongoski, who said Tuesday that he will stress education at all levels during his second term.
The Associated Press contributed to this report