Posted on 11/03/2004 6:07:19 AM PST by I got the rope
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Congress's top Democrat, Tom Daschle, lost his bid to be reelected to the Senate, US networks reported, capping a night of defeats his party, which also failed to win control of either chamber of the US legislature.
Daschle, arguably the most powerful Democrat in the US Congress, lost the Senate's most closely-watched election in a 51 percent to 49 percent squeaker to Republican challenger John Thune, a former member of the House of Representatives.
In failing to hold on to the seat he first won in 1986, Daschle becomes the first Senate leader to lose reelection in more than half a century. Daschle was seeking his fourth term in the Senate.
Two years ago, Thune narrowly lost his challenge to the state's other Democratic senator, Tim Johnson.
Although a long-time South Dakota incumbent and the state's top politician, Daschle faced a tough race as a Democrat in an overwhelmingly Republican state.
GOP leaders in the US Senate made beating Daschle a priority and tapped the telegenic Thune, a former basketball star from the hamlet of Murdo, as their standard bearer.
Daschle won his last Senate race in 1998 race with 62 percent of the vote, but he was seen as more vulnerable after his flirtation with a presidential run this year alienated voters in his state.
Thune also succeeded in portraying him as a Washington DC liberal more likely to espouse a far left wing agenda in the Senate than the traditional bedrock heartland values that South Dakotans cherish.
Daschle and Thune spent more than 40 million dollars in what has become the Senate's most expensive and bitterly-contested race.
I feel like Steve Martin... got a bad case of happy feet!
(If I were a newbie, I'd started a thread consisting of nothing but that question. < g > )
Dan
Now Tommy Boy can enjoy his D.C. residency while being a lobbyist...or maybe a spokesman for Viagra. If Daschle takes Viagra, does he grow taller?
Oh shoot!! I was going to say that!
Congrats to SENATOR JOHN THUNE!
I have a gut feeling that the constituents are fed-up with Daschle and his accomplices filibustering every judicial candidate with a scent of conservatism.
Pride goeth before a fall! This is one guy whose hubris
blinded his good sense.
Not to worry - I hear Daschle has already been offered a job at CNN.
Now who in God's name is going to carry Nancy Pelosi's Summer's Eve?
LOL
BWAAAAAHAAAAAAAAAAA!
Good riddance to that Socialist pig. What comes around goes around. This is the greatest day for me in a long time. I just wish my home state of NJ would wisen up for once. It's too darn liberal.
We need some deeply saddened pics in here.
Dash-hole claimed he wa a resident of DC anyway. He'll probably never set foot in SD ever again in his life.
There were two things that got Daschle. One was the ad "In his own words" and the other was filing suit against Thune on the eve of elections. The good folks in SD probably hated that.
I think her heinous will now take the reins. Watch her go for a power grab in the next few weeks.
Sweet news indeed! Thank you South Dakota voters!
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