Resurgent Democrats won control of the House of Representatives and challenged the Republicans' grip on the Senate in an election day blow to President George W. Bush. Democrats rode to victory on a powerful wave of public anger over the war in Iraq and scandal at home. Democrats also reclaimed governors' offices throughout the country, giving them a majority for the first time in 12 years, the Associated Press reported. Under a Democratic House, Bush faces the prospect of stalemate in the final two years of his presidency, with newly empowered Democratic lawmakers likely to investigate his administration and block his conservative political agenda. Republicans have controlled both houses of Congress for most of the time since Bush took office in 2001. Bush monitored the returns from the White House. «They have not gone the way he would have liked,» press secretary Tony Snow said of the election returns. By early Wednesday morning, Democrats had picked up more than two dozen House seats held by Republicans, more than enough to guarantee a return to power after 12 years in the minority. Bush arranged to call Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the leader of House Democrats, on Wednesday morning, then hold a news conference. Pelosi would become the first woman speaker, or House leader, in history. Pelosi, a liberal who has sharply criticized Bush, would be second in line of succession to the presidency, behind Vice President Dick Cheney. «Mr. President we need a new direction in Iraq,» Pelosi said Tuesday. If the battle for House control was settled, not so the Senate struggle. Democrats won Republican Senate seats in Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Ohio and Missouri, defeating Sens. Rick Santorum, Mike DeWine, Lincoln Chafee and Jim Talent. But they came up short in Tennessee as Republican Bob Corker won a hotly contested race, defeating Rep. Harold Ford. Jr. That left two races _ Virginia and Montana _ unsettled. Democrats needed to win both to complete their sweep of Congress. In Montana, Republican Conrad Burns trailed Democrat Jon Tester. In Virginia, Republican Sen. George Allen and Democratic challenger Jim Webb were locked in an excruciatingly close race with only a small number of precincts to report, and the strong likelihood of a recount. Just two years after Bush was re-elected by a comfortable margin, Democrats made his low popularity the focus of their campaigns in the wake of the never-ending bloodshed in Iraq, his administration's bungled response to Hurricane Katrina and scandals that have forced the resignations of powerful Republican lawmakers. Some Republicans tried to distance themselves from Bush.
