Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, November 9, 1995 TAG: 9511090064
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
A day after Democrats won the Kentucky governorship and held onto legislatures in Virginia and Maine, party leaders boasted Wednesday that House Speaker Newt Gingrich's revolution had ``hit a speed bump.'' Gingrich acknowledged his disappointment but characterized GOP losses as minor.
``I think we're doing fine,'' Gingrich said. ``Right now we have a time out. They won Kentucky, we won Mississippi.''
The parties split the two Southern governorships that were contested in Tuesday's off-year elections: GOP Gov. Kirk Fordice easily beat Mississippi's Democratic secretary of state, Dick Molpus, while Kentucky Lt. Gov. Paul Patton narrowly defeated Republican lawyer Larry Forgy. The Democrat's margin of victory was 51 percent to 49 percent.
``I think the Republican wave is over,'' Patton said Wednesday. ``The tide is gone, and it's going back out to sea. The only question now is how far will it go.''
But Republican party officials noted that Patton ran as a conservative, and had even vowed to oppose President Clinton next year if his administration keeps pushing curbs on tobacco.
``There's no question that we're disappointed'' about Kentucky, Gingrich said, noting that Forgy came within 22,000 votes - one-half a percentage point - of winning ``against a Democrat who ran as a right-wing Democrat.''
Even the White House wouldn't read much of a national mandate into Tuesday's results, which saw the Democrats maintain control of the Maine House, the Mississippi Senate and the Virginia House of Delegates and gain three seats in the overwhelmingly Republican New Jersey Assembly.
``Every one of those races had its own dynamic and its own equation,'' press secretary Mike McCurry said. ``I think Democrats did pretty well across the board.
``I don't know that you can assess any global impact to a series of races that are important,'' he added.
Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, was less restrained.
``The Gingrich revolution hit a speed bump yesterday,'' he said. ``Voters around the country turned conventional wisdom on its head ... by rejecting the extremist agenda of the GOP.''
Tuesday's results marked the first major victories for Democrats since Clinton was elected in 1992. Republicans had hoped to extend the historic gains of 1993 and 1994, when they seized control of 30 governorships and both houses of Congress.
In Mississippi, Fordice soundly defeated Molpus by a 55 percent to 45 percent margin but Republicans' long-shot hopes of gaining a majority in the state Senate - they had needed to win nine seats - proved to be just that.
The GOP lost two seats in that chamber, boosting the Democratic majority to 35-17. The Mississippi House is overwhelmingly controlled by Democrats.
Republican National Chairman Haley Barbour contended that Republicans made an impressive showing in Tuesday's elections, despite their losses.
``If they want to define success for the Democrats as the absence of catastrophe, that's fine with me,'' Barbour said. ``When the focus is on issues, Republicans usually win.''
Keywords:
ELECTION
by CNB