Democrats wrested
control of the Senate from Republicans Wednesday with
an upset victory in Virginia, giving the party complete
domination of Capitol Hill for the first time since
1994.
Jim Webb's
squeaker win over incumbent senator George Allen gave
Democrats their 51st seat in the Senate, an astonishing
turnabout at the hands of voters unhappy with
Republican scandal and unabated violence in Iraq.
Allen was the sixth Republican incumbent senator defeated in
Tuesday's elections.
The Senate had
teetered at 50 Democrats, 49 Republicans for most of
Wednesday, with Virginia hanging in the balance. Webb's
victory ended Republican hopes of eking out a 50-50
split, with Vice President Dick Cheney wielding
tie-breaking authority.
The Associated
Press contacted election officials in all 134 localities
where voting occurred, obtaining updated numbers Wednesday.
About half the localities said they had completed
their postelection canvassing, and nearly all had
counted outstanding absentees. Most were expected to be
finished by Friday.
The new AP count
showed Webb with 1,172,538 votes and Allen with
1,165,302, a difference of 7,236. Virginia has had two
statewide vote recounts in modern history, but both
resulted in vote changes of no more than a few hundred
votes.
An adviser to
Allen, speaking on condition of anonymity because his boss
had not formally decided to end the campaign, said the
senator wanted to wait until most of canvassing was
completed before announcing his decision, possibly as
early as Thursday evening.
The adviser said
that Allen was disinclined to request a recount if the
final vote spread was similar to that of election night.
The victory puts
Democratic senator Harry Reid of Nevada in line to
become Senate majority leader. He has led the Democrats
since Tom Daschle of South Dakota was defeated two
years ago.