Elections strengthen Clinton's position

The Democrats' surprising showing in House and Senate races left Republicans rethinking their strategy and strengthened President Clinton's hand in his struggle against impeachment. "It's got to take some of the steam out of it," the Senate's top Democrat said.

House Speaker Newt Gingrich saw his predictions of big Republican gains in the election blown away. "We have to look carefully at what happened and at what lessons Republicans have to learn," Gingrich said Wednesday.Gingrich rejected the suggestion, pushed by Democrats, that the voters sent a message against impeachment. He said Republicans were not about to "take a major constitutional duty and reduce it to the level of who can spin best."

Presidential press secretary Joe Lockhart said when the 106th Congress convenes in January, "the atmosphere should be more positive" toward issues Clinton has pushed - school construction, Social Security and health insurance reforms.

In an election in which only six of 401 House incumbents were not returned, the GOP retained control of Congress, its third majority in a row. But the Republicans' already-slim margin was trimmed. In the Senate, with only Nevada's race still undecided, the Republicans had made no headway. Republicans also lost their hold on governors' seats in California and four other states but nearly offset that by picking up four new governorships.

"It's disappointing," said Sen. Don Nickles of Oklahoma, the Senate's No. 2 Republican. Some Republicans groused their party had miscalculated by focusing on Clinton and his affair with Monica Lewinsky.

"If you make it a referendum on a president with a 67 percent approval rating, you shouldn't be surprised if the election goes against you," Republican Gov. Tom Ridge said as he coasted to re-election in Pennsylvania.

Millionaire publisher Steve Forbes, angling for the Republican presidential nomination in 2000, said the GOP leadership "will have a lot to answer for."

Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott said, "We need to talk more as Republicans about our commitment to tax cuts and growth and local control of education."

Rep. Mary Bono, a California Republican on the House committee conducting the impeachment inquiry, said, "People are definitely tired of the impeachment. . . . Nonetheless, it is still our duty to look at what we have before us."

Democrats said voters focused on issues and not Clinton's troubles.

"The message all over the country is that they want us to get back to work on the people's business," said Vice President Al Gore.