Dems Take Over U.S. House; GOP Loses Ground in Senate
by Jody Brown, Allie Martin, and Chad Groening
November 8, 2006
(AgapePress) - - It may be the end of the month before certified election results determine whether Republicans have maintained their hold on the U.S. Senate. But there's no doubt about who will be the majority party in the House when the next session of Congress rolls around.
Needing to win 218 of the races to control the House, Democrats have comfortably surpassed that number to regain their leadership role in that chamber of Congress for the first time in 12 years. That means President Bush will enter his final two years in office with at least half of Congress in the hands of the opposing party. Senate races in two states -- Virginia and Montana -- are too close to call at this time, putting in limbo the final determination as to who will wield majority power in the Senate.
Just several thousand votes (out of 2.3 million cast) separate incumbent Republican George Allen and Democratic challenger Jim Webb in Virginia, where legal challenges to the count could delay final results for some time. According to news reports, state officials are saying they will put off certifying the results until November 27. And at press time, the Republican incumbent in Montana, Senator Conrad Burns, trailed Democrat Jon Tester by less than 2,000 votes with 99 percent of precincts reporting.
Should either of the Republican incumbents win, the GOP will remain in control of the Senate. But should Webb and Tester emerge victorious, both parties will then hold 49 seats along with the two Independents, both of whom would likely side with Democrats in a Senate leadership election.
Christian commentator and author Janet Parshall says conservative voters should prepare for setbacks on numerous issues with either a divided or a Democrat-controlled Congress. Parshall says in the weeks leading up to the elections, she devoted must of her daily talk show (Janet Parshall's America) to side-by-side comparisons of Republican and Democratic policies.
She says the differences in worldviews between both parties are clear. "Republicans voted overwhelmingly for the security fence [to stem illegal immigration from Mexico]; the Democrats did not," she points out. "The Republicans voted overwhelmingly for the Public Expression of Religion Act; the Democrats did not. Republicans supported the Patriot Act; the Democrats did not," she continues.
And she contends the country will feel the effects of the election in other ways as well, such as taxation.
"[Democratic Congressman] Charlie Rangel has done us all a favor by telling us that if they become the majority party, the first thing he's going to do is raise taxes," she states. If that happens, the outspoken commentator says, economic gains enjoyed under the Republicans could be in danger.
Alluding to Rangel's comment, Parshall adds: "You can't say you ain't been told."
Sad About Santorum
A prominent pro-life senator was defeated soundly on Tuesday in his bid for re-election. Two-term Republican Senator Rick Santorum on Pennsylvania was defeated by State Treasurer Bob Casey, Jr. Well-known author and Christian historian David Barton says Santorum's defeat is a major setback for the pro-life movement.
"I really credit Rick as being almost single-handedly the guy who turned the whole national debate on partial-birth abortions," says Barton.
According to Barton, who is founder of the ministry WallBuilders, Santorum's troubles go back to 2004 when he chose to support Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter, a moderate, over a more conservative candidate in the GOP primary. Barton contends that decision angered Santorum's base support, costing him re-election to a third term.
"It's one thing to anger your opponents, but he angered his base and therefore they were unwilling to work for him this time," says Barton. "They might vote for him, but they weren't going to work for him -- and that really hurt him."
Barton believes conservatives felt betrayed when Specter -- after being re-elected -- said he would not vote for any pro-life judicial nominees. Specter became chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee after returning to the Senate.
A Pennsylvania activist who, like Barton, is disappointed about Santorum's defeat agrees that his support for Specter in 2004 contributed greatly to his defeat. But Diane Gramley of the American Family Association of Pennsylvania is also distressed over who is taking Santorum's place. Senator-elect Bob Casey, Jr., she says, is not the pro-life candidate he has claimed to be.
"Bob Casey, Jr., supports embryonic stem-cell research and] he supported the FDA's decision on Plan B, an over-the-counter abortion pill," says Gramley. "He's not the pro-life candidate that he's purporting to be -- and unfortunately there are not enough people who are taking the time to look at Bob Casey for who he really is."
The Santorum-Casey Senate race was one of the most hotly contested in the nation as well as the most expensive in the state's history, with Santorum raising $25 million and Casey $15 million.
