In Kentucky, Republicans deflected a strong Democratic effort to unseat Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. He'd been a prime Democratic target.

Otherwise, the night was a disaster for the GOP. It was act two of the downward spiral that began two years ago when they lost control of Congress after 12 years.

The shift put the politics of Capitol Hill in flux. House Blue Dogs, an influential group of fiscally conservative Democrats, will insist that all those Democratic campaign promises be paid for.

Senate Republican moderates will be caught between their tendencies to side with Democrats on issues and loyalty to a shrinking and demoralized party.

Those Republican moderates could become an endangered species in the House. Some prominent examples, like Rep. Christopher Shays of Connecticut, lost, or were trailing.

"It could very well be a chapter in the unfolding saga of the demise of the moderate liberal Republican," said Michael Franc, vice president of government relations for the Heritage Foundation and a former congressional aide.

Experts said it was unusual to have consecutive national elections when the political shift swings so far in the same direction. Now Republicans are even further in the hole, and a period of recrimination and political bloodletting is sure to follow.

"There will be a sort of purification and cleansing," said Greg Mueller, a conservative Republican strategist. "Tonight was a punishing night for Republicans and a real wakeup call."

Mueller said that Republicans needed to reclaim the issues of fiscal discipline and low taxes.

Dole lost her North Carolina Senate seat to Democratic state Sen. Kay Hagan. The race became increasingly ugly in the final weeks when Dole ran a controversial ad implying that Hagan was "godless."

Hagan criticized Dole during the campaign for being away from the state too often and not paying enough attention to its needs.

"Not many things can dislodge an incumbent with a good name," said Ross Baker, a Senate expert at Rutgers University in New Jersey. "Inattentive, or remote from the state, is a killer."

Former New Hampshire Gov. Jeanne Shaheen knocked off Sununu in a rematch of their 2002 contest. Shaheen linked Sununu to Bush and his unpopular policies.