Clinton In For Second Term With Big Lead

Clinton won handily, bagging 379 electoral votes to Doles 150. He became the first Democrat to be re-elected since Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

As supporters erupted in cheers, Clinton celebrated his victory in Little Rock, Arkansas, the scene of his many political triumphs and tribulations. I am more grateful than I can say, he said in the last acceptance speech of his political career. I will do my best and together we will build that bridge to the 21st century.

But sweet though the victory was for a President who was all but written off in the wake of the Republican revolution two years ago, Clinton once again faces the prospect of dealing with a potentially hostile Congress.

 

The Democrats, jubilant at retaining the White House, were disappointed in their bid to wrest back control of the Senate and the House.

As incumbents regained their winning edge after losing in droves in 1994, the Republicans were set to increase their 53-47 majority in the Senate by at least one seat.

The party lost powerful Senate Commerce Committee chairman Larry Pressler (the author of the amendment which bans US aid to Pakistan for pursuing a nuclear programme) but gained a high-profile victory by wresting a Senate slot in Clintons home state of Arkansas.

In the House of Representatives, Speaker Newt Gingrich was certain to pick up the gavel once again. The Republicans won the House two times in a row for the first time since the 1920s.

Gingrich will, however, return with a smaller majority. The Democrats made some inroads into Republican territory, leaving the Speaker with a potentially wafer thin majority. The final contours of the House may not be known until December 10 because of run-off elections in 13 Texas districts where the courts ordered re-districting.

The results were a personal triumph for Gingrich. The House Speaker, whose personal disapproval ratings had climbed to more than 60 per cent, was portrayed as a shadow candidate across the country by Democrats attacking Republican policies on everything from health care to fighting crime.

The prospect of a divided government led Clinton to offer an olive branch to the Republicans. Clinton said: They are sending us a message; Work together. Meet our challenges. Put aside the politics of division and build Americas community together.

Public challenges apart, Republican control of Capitol Hill also signals a potentially bruising time ahead for the President. The Republicans are raring to continue investigations into Clintons Whitewater real estate investment deal, the furore over bringing unauthorised FBI files into the White House and the recent revelations over dubious foreign contributions to the Democratic Party.

Most political analysts, however, predicted that a chastened Congress would work with the Preesident to steer the country onto a moderate course. Elderly voters, for instance, flocked to Clinton after being scared by the spectre of Republican cuts to their Medicare and Social Security allowances.

American University professor of governmennt James Thurber said: We will see a more pragmatic Congress.

The bonhomie may, however, be shortlived. Georgetown professor Arturo Valenzuela said: The Republicans are not going to want (vice president) Al Gore as president in 2000. So at some point, there will be the revival of the bitter confrontation of the past.

For the present, Clinton is assured of a place in history. Although his presidential coattails proved to be short, the re-election was a remarkable comeback for a party that once struggled to find an electable candidate and was in danger of being declared extinct just two years ago.

National Journal contributing editor Jerry Hagstorm said: He may go down in history as the President who saved the Democratic party.