Updated Nov. 6 | 9 p.m.

Daschle says he has no regrets about Democrats' campaign

By MIKE MADDEN
Gannett News Service

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - On the morning after Republicans surged to power again in the Senate, Democratic leader Tom Daschle looked back on the fall campaigns and found nothing his party could have done to change the outcome of the historic Nov. 5 elections.

"I don't know that anything went wrong for us," Daschle, of South Dakota, said early Wednesday. "I look back and I wouldn't change anything. We did all that we knew how to do."

As soon as Republican Jim Talent is certified the winner in Missouri's special election, Republican Trent Lott of Mississippi will replace Daschle as majority leader for the post-election session that begins Nov. 12. Republicans defended their 20 seats on the ballot Tuesday night, took three Democratic seats and lost only one incumbent, Tim Hutchinson of Arkansas. The GOP will have at least 51 senators next term.

Daschle said President Bush deserved much of the credit for the Republican sweep. Enormously popular because of the war against terrorism, the president barnstormed the country in the final weeks before the election, visiting every state with a close Senate race and many of the competitive House districts.

"He energized the base, he articulated the message," Daschle said. "He did that state after state, week after week. He had a profound effect."

Daschle said Democrats simply failed to break through to the public with their criticism of the Bush administration's economic policies. The nation's focus lingered on the war on terrorism and possible conflict with Iraq far longer than Democrats would have liked, he added. Republicans had criticized Daschle for never offering a coherent economic agenda of his own during the campaign, but he said Wednesday there was nothing more that could have been done to hold off the GOP surge.

It was a long night at the Democratic headquarters here, and the mood turned more somber with each Republican victory. Some longtime Daschle aides compared the night to 1994, when Republicans swept the control of both houses of Congress.

Despite the Democratic losses, Daschle is still considered a potential presidential candidate for 2004. He has said he will make a decision about running for the White House before the end of the year.

The lone bright spot for South Dakota Democrats was that incumbent Tim Johnson appeared to hold off a furious challenge from Republican Rep. John Thune for the state's junior Senate seat. That campaign had become a symbolic fight between Daschle and Bush, who visited the state twice in the last four days of the campaign to stump for Thune, who was personally recruited by the president to run. Election officials didn't finish counting ballots in that contest until well into Wednesday morning, and when Daschle went to bed at about 4 a.m., Thune was ahead by more than 1,000 votes. A recount is possible.

Aides said the race held more importance for Daschle emotionally than just its implications for the balance of power in the Senate.

The Democratic leader was obviously exhausted Wednesday, and he said he was shocked by the GOP wave. When New Hampshire's Democratic Gov. Jeanne Shaheen fell short against Republican Rep. John Sununu in the race for that state's open Senate seat, Daschle began to realize the scale of his party's losses.

Over breakfast with a small group of reporters and aides Wednesday, he reminisced about his first election to the House in 1978, which he officially won only after a recount that lasted more than a year. Returns from that recount trickled in a handful of votes a day. It was an agonizing wait, Daschle recalled, that he said he wouldn't wish on anybody.

Turning to next year, Daschle said the burden now falls on Republicans to govern. He expects a more hawkish foreign policy to emerge quickly from Congress, and he said more conservative judges could be confirmed soon.

Ross Baker, a political scientist at Rutgers University in New Jersey, said being in the minority could be easier than governing with a slim majority.

``There's nothing fundamentally more exhilarating than tossing hand grenades rather than having to catch them and Daschle's in that position," Baker said.

The Senate's minority party has parliamentary tactics it can use to block legislation. It was too early to say how Democrats would respond to GOP initiatives, Daschle said.

Despite the loss of four seats, Daschle did not expect any of his colleagues to challenge his leadership of the party.

"I don't know if anybody would want the job," he said.

(Contributing: GNS reporter Ledyard King)