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Students vote Tuesday at a poll on Strathmore Drive. Daily Bruin exit polling showed 61 percent o

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Bruin Democrats watch the congressional and gubernatorial election results together at president

For the first time since 1994, Democrats gained the majority in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, but as of 12:30 a.m. today, the balance in the Senate remains uncertain.

As of press time, the races in Virginia between Republican incumbent George Allen and Democrat Jim Webb, and in Missouri between Republican incumbent Conrad Burns and Democrat Jon Tester, are still undetermined. The final results could take days to tally.

The Republicans and Democrats each control 49 seats in the Senate, as it is assumed the two independent senators will caucus with the Democrats.

A 50-50 tie would be broken by Vice President Dick Cheney, so the Democrats have to win both contested seats to win a majority. The slim margin that separates candidates in Virgina and Missouri may be cause for a recount.

In California, Sen. Dianne Feinstein was reelected for her third term with 55 percent of the vote.

Having held his seat since 1975, Representative Henry Waxman of the 30th district was also reelected. Waxman is a UCLA graduate.

Democrats won 227 seats and were ahead in another 12 races. Republicans, who hold 229 seats in the current House, won 191 seats and were leading in another 12.

Democrats have won 26 Republican-controlled seats.

A Democratic majority in the house means California Representative Nancy Pelosi could be the first female majority leader in the House. This position in the line of succession would make her closer to the presidency than any woman has come.

“Today we have made history,” she said. “Now let us make progress.”

No Democratic incumbents in either branch of Congress lost their seats.

“It’s been kind of tough out there,” conceded House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., who won an 11th term but will lose the role of speaker.

Political Science Professor Matthew Baum said a Democratic takeover of the Senate will give the party some advantages but may not make a huge difference.

“Even if they do take over Senate, they’re not going to be changing a lot of laws in the country, just stymieing Bush,” Baum said. “They can do that with just one house.”

The biggest effect of the shift in party power will be the end of Bush’s ability to be on the offense domestically, he said.

Baum does not expect a radical change in policy regarding the Iraq war, given the strong control over foreign policy that lies in the hands of the presidency.

“At the end of the day, if George Bush decides we’re staying (in) Iraq ... we’re staying,” he said.

Former Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis attributed the power shift to issues surrounding the Iraq war, as well as the issues of corruption that have plagued the Republican Party.

“People are just unhappy,” he said. “The war is going badly. It’s getting worse. ... People just don’t see an exit.”

“I think there is a sense there is a culture of corruption in Washington,” Dukakis said.

Baum also said corruption issues held some weight in the election.

“It may not be at the absolute top of the agenda, (but) it stole a lot of the oxygen from the White House,” Baum said.

He said it is unclear how much noise the Democrats will make regarding the corruption scandals and pre-war intelligence now that they hold the majority.

Baum predicted the partisan split in control of the branches of government will make the next two years “pretty ugly.”

“The Democrats’ left-leaning base is going to be bloodthirsty,” he said.

Baum said there are going to be investigations done by the Democrats, but the question is whether they will be peripheral or aggressively attack things like pre-war intelligence and the president.

When the Republicans won control of Congress in 1994, they completely marginalized the Democrats, he said.

“The Republicans really turned the screws,” he said. “As you can imagine, there are lot of Democrats who want revenge.”

The question is whether the Democrats will do the same or act so they can say they took the high road toward reconciliation, he said.

At UCLA, about 25 members of the Bruin Democrats gathered to watch the results announced on television.

“We‘re really optimistic. The results look very good,” said Gabe Rose, Bruin Democrats president.

Bruin Republicans had a similar gathering, where secretary Jimmy Dunn said they had expected to lose the House.

“It either means we’ll be bickering, getting nothing done, or we’ll talk to each other and get good stuff done,” he said.

With reports from Bruin wire services and Abigail Palmer, Helen Yim and Saba Riazati, Bruin staff.

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