Updated Nov. 6 | 9 p.m.

GOP limits Democratic gains in governor's races

By MAUREEN GROPPE and DERRICK DePLEDGE
Gannett News Service

WASHINGTON — Women held ground Tuesday in governor's campaigns as voters narrowed the balance of power between the two political parties nationally.

In another reflection of a divided America, Republicans and Democrats will likely emerge from the midterm elections with a near-even share of governor's offices. The split could have an influence on the 2004 presidential election because governors, aside from setting a state's political agenda, are important players in fund-raising and get-out-the-vote drives.

"It just strikes me as being an incredibly divided electorate,'' said Iva Deutchman, a political science professor at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, N.Y. "But I don't know if voters thought they were given a real choice. I didn't hear a lot of issues being debated.''

Women had hoped to make record gains this year with a crop of candidates who had extensive political experience. Ten women ran for governor in nine states, taking Michigan, Kansas and Hawaii, where both contenders were women. Women candidates lost in Alaska, Arkansas, Massachusetts, Maryland and Rhode Island.

A victory by Democratic Attorney General Janet Napolitano in Arizona, where she was leading former Republican Rep. Matt Salmon on Wednesday, would give women a record six governor's offices. Women now hold five governor's offices, but three of those women are leaving at the end of their terms.

"It's the slow, steady progress that has been the story of women in politics,'' said Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women in Politics at the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J. "I think the reality is the system doesn't change overnight.''

But women failed to gain any momentum in the House or Senate, holding steady at a projected 59 seats in the House and 13 seats in the Senate.

"It was a combination of bad luck, bad weather, bad campaigning. It just wasn't there for those of us who were hoping to see more women actually elected,'' said Karen O'Connor, a specialist in women and politics at American University.

She said she is concerned "that we've really sort of reached a glass ceiling and it's becoming more like a steel wall.''

Democrats made significant gains in states that are traditional battlegrounds during presidential elections, winning governor's races in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin. Republicans kept crucial territory in Florida, New York and Massachusetts and snatched back Maryland, Georgia and Hawaii, among others, from the Democrats.

Republicans had more governor's offices to defend on Tuesday and had been expected to suffer greater losses. GOP officials declared victory based on their success in limiting the damage.

Democrats were pleased they were able to capture the battleground states as well as conservative territory like Kansas and Wyoming.

Overall, Republicans held 25 governor's offices and Democrats held 22, with races in Alabama, Arizona and Oregon still undecided late Wednesday. Before Tuesday's elections, Republicans controlled 27 governor's offices, Democrats held 21 and independents had two.

A slumping economy, which has caused severe financial problems for many state governments, was an obvious backdrop to the mid-term elections, but there was no other major national theme in the governor's races.

A few governor's races provided surprises.

In Georgia, Democratic Gov. Roy Barnes, the favorite, was beaten by former Republican state Sen. Sonny Perdue, the first Republican elected governor since Reconstruction.

In Oklahoma, former Rep. Steve Largent, a Hall of Fame football player and rising Republican star, lost to Democratic state Sen. Brad Henry.

And in heavily Democratic Hawaii, voters elected the first Republican governor in 40 years, selecting former Maui County Mayor Linda Lingle over Democratic Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono.

"I think the public was finally overwhelmed from the corruption of a one-party state,'' Lingle said. "People felt that they had to make a change.''