Demos start laying plans after gains in Congress

WASHINGTON -- Flush with victory built on incursions in the South and West, congressional Democratic leaders promised to use their new power to join President-elect Barack Obama in pursuing an aggressive agenda that puts top priority on the economy, health care, energy and ending the Iraq war.

By reaching deep into traditionally Republican turf, the Democrats in Tuesday's elections expanded their majorities in both the House and the Senate. They picked up at least five Senate seats, in Colorado, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina and Virginia. And they picked up at least 19 House seats, with new Democrats coming from Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina and Virginia.

The full extent of the new Democratic majorities remained unknown, with tight Senate races still undecided in Alaska, Minnesota and Oregon, and a runoff scheduled on Dec. 2 in Georgia.

At least six House races remained too close to call.

Still, the promise of strong control of Congress also left Democratic leaders grappling with challenges of balancing a wider spectrum of views within their own party while confronting a diminished House Republican conference now decidedly more conservative.

The exuberance of Tuesday night's victories also was tempered by unease over the public's high expectations for a party in control of both Congress and the White House amid economic turmoil, two wars overseas and a yawning budget gap.

On the day after the election, leadership battles were breaking out across Capitol Hill as lawmakers contemplated the prospects of new power and opportunity.

For instance, Democratic aides said that Rep. Henry Waxman of Los Angeles was expected to challenge Rep. John Dingell of Michigan, the longest-serving House Democrat, for chairmanship of the Energy and Commerce Committee. Energy issues are expected to be a major focus of the Obama administration.

And before the week is out, Democrats could try to oust Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, the independent who campaigned for Sen. John McCain, from the chairmanship of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco, who spoke with Obama by phone on Wednesday morning, said that they had made plans to discuss coordinated efforts for the transition and the new Congress, but that a more ambitious agenda would unfold next year.

"Our priorities have tracked the Obama campaign priorities for a very long time," Pelosi said at a news conference, where she cited the economy, health care, energy and the Iraq war as topping the agenda.

She said Democrats were talking with the Bush White House about a potential $61 billion economic stimulus that could be approved in a lame-duck session.

But Pelosi said Democrats could open the 111th Congress in January with efforts to adopt measures blocked by President Bush, including ones to expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program and embryonic stem cell research. She said Democrats had no choice but to chart a centrist course. "The country must be governed from the middle," she said.

But Democrats on both sides of the Capitol were just beginning to digest the new faces in their expanded caucuses.

Those new members include Jim Himes, a Harvard- and Oxford-educated former Goldman Sachs banker turned affordable-housing advocate who ousted Rep. Christopher Shays of Connecticut.

Roughly one-third of this year's gains in the House came in the West, including two seats in New Mexico and one each in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho and Nevada.

In Idaho, the Democrats scored an unlikely House victory when Walt Minnick, a self-described "gun-owning outdoorsman" who once worked in the administration of Richard M. Nixon defeated Bill Sali, a Republican incumbent.

The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, and other Democrats pointed to their successes in the West as evidence that they were building an enduring majority.

Rep. Tom Udall, a Democrat who won a Republican-held Senate seat in New Mexico, said, "I feel like I am coming in as a Western problem-solver, as somebody who has had success working across the aisle on many issues in my home state."

Although Democrats fell short of their goal of a 60-vote Senate majority, which would have given them the power to break filibusters, Pelosi said it would be far easier to get Republican support for Democratic bills with Bush out of office. She said Republicans often blocked bills to protect the president. Biden Jr., built strong relationships on Capitol Hill.

President Jimmy Carter and President Bill Clinton, as former governors, were outsiders to Congress.

Republicans are already warning that Obama, a relatively junior lawmaker, will be outmaneuvered by more experienced operators on Capitol Hill, a proposition Democrats dismissed, noting that Obama would benefit from the counsel of Biden, a longtime senator from Delaware. "I think both sides realize we need one another, and both sides realize that we'd better not blow this," said Sen. Charles E. Schumer of New York.Democrats knew Wednesday they had picked up seats in both houses of Congress. But a few races were too close to call. Among them:

Minnesota Senator

Incumbent Republican Sen. Norm Coleman leads Democratic challenger

Al Franken by 477 votes, triggering an automatic hand recount. The winner won't be known for weeks.

Alaska Senator

Sen. Ted Stevens, a 40-year incumbent convicted of seven felonies, leads Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich, a Democrat, by fewer than 3,400 votes, with more than 55,000 ballots to be counted.

Oregon Senator

Democrat Jeff Merkley trails Sen. Gordon Smith by more than 6,100 votes, but about one-fifth of the precincts remain

to be counted, including votes from Portland and other areas favorable to Democrats.

Georgia Senator

Incumbent Republican Saxby Chambliss has 49.9 percent of the vote over his rival, Democrat Jim Martin. State law requires that a runoff be held if no one gets at least 50 percent plus

one vote.

Six House seats

Republicans lead tight races in Alaska, California, Ohio and Washington, while Democrats have narrow advantages for seats in Maryland and Virginia.