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WASHINGTON (AP) -- Democrats won the Ohio governorship Tuesday and challenged Republicans for control of Congress during President Bush's final two years in office in elections shadowed by an unpopular war in Iraq and scandal at home.
All 435 House seats were on the ballot along with 33 Senate races, elections that Democrats sought to make a referendum on the president's handling of the war, the economy and more.
In Ohio, Rep. Ted Strickland defeated Republican Ken Blackwell with ease to become the first Democrat elected governor in 16 years.
Other early returns made Rep. Bernie Sanders, an independent, a winner in the Vermont Senate race, succeeding retiring Sen. James Jeffords. Brooklyn-born with an accent to match, Sanders is an avowed Socialist who will side with Democrats when he is sworn into office in January.
Two veterans coasted to new terms, Democratic Sen. Robert C. Byrd in West Virginia, his ninth, and Republican Sen. Richard Lugar in Indiana, his sixth.
Voters also filled state legislative seats and decided hundreds of statewide ballot initiatives on issues ranging from proposed bans on gay marriage to increases in the minimum wage.
In surveys at polling places, about six in 10 voters said they disapproved of the way President Bush is handling his job, and roughly the same percentage opposed the war in Iraq. They were more inclined to vote for Democratic candidates than for Republicans.
In even larger numbers, about three-quarters of voters said scandals mattered to them in deciding how to vote, and they, too, were more likely to side with Democrats. The surveys were taken by The Associated Press and the networks.
President Bush was at the White House, awaiting returns that would determine whether he would have to contend with divided government during his final two years in office.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, the House Democratic leader, was in Washington, waiting to learn whether her party would wrest control of the House from Republicans and put her in line to become the first woman speaker in U.S. history.
Glitches delayed balloting in dozens of Indiana and Ohio precincts, and Illinois officials were swamped with calls from voters complaining that poll workers did not know how to operate new electronic equipment. Voting machine malfunctions forced officials in Indiana to delay calling statewide races until 8:40 p.m. EST while in Pennsylvania, Lebanon County extended polling hours because of machine problems.
Overall, the Justice Department said polling complaints were down slightly from 2004 by early afternoon.
Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, running for re-election with one eye on the 2008 presidential race, voiced her party's campaign mantra, with one qualification.
"I voted for change, except for me," she said, casting her ballot with husband Bill, the former president, in Chappaqua, N.Y.
Bush, who had campaigned hard for GOP lawmakers up to the end, switched to civics cheerleader after voting in Texas.
With wife Laura at his side and an "I voted" sticker on his jacket lapel, he said, "No matter what your party affiliation or if you don't have a party affiliation, do your duty, cast your ballot and let your voice be heard."
Congressional Democrats, locked out of power for most of the past dozen years, needed gains of 15 seats in the House and six in the Senate to gain majorities that would let them restrain Bush's conservative agenda through the rest of his term.
The president campaigned energetically to prevent it, primarily by raising money for GOP candidates. He brought in $193 million at about 90 fundraisers, most of them party events in Washington or closed candidate receptions. Only at the last did he turn to traditional open campaign rallies, jetting to 15 cities in the final 11 days.
With Bush's approval ratings low and the Iraq war unpopular, Republicans conceded in advance that Democrats would gain at least some seats in Congress as well as in statehouses across the country. Democrats campaigned on a platform of change, beginning at the top. Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California was in line to become the nation's first female House speaker if her party gained a majority.
Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., was assured of re-election to his 11th term in Illinois. But his tenure as the longest-serving Republican speaker in decades was at risk.
Of the 33 Senate races on the ballot, 17 were for seats occupied by Democrats and 15 by Republicans, with one held by an independent. But that masked the real story: In both houses, nearly all the competitive seats were in GOP hands and Democrats were on the offensive.
Republican Sens. Mike DeWine of Ohio, Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, Jim Talent of Missouri and Conrad Burns of Montana struggled all fall against difficult challenges. The Tennessee seat vacated by retiring Majority Leader Bill Frist was also hotly contested.
Democrats had hopes in Virginia, where Sen. George Allen looked for a second term. Republicans poured money into Maryland and Michigan in the campaign's closing days, hoping to spring upsets and offset expected losses elsewhere.
Scandal complicated the campaign for Republicans, from the months-long corruption investigation spawned by lobbyist Jack Abramoff to the revelation that former Rep. Mark Foley had sent sexually explicit computer messages to teenage congressional pages.
History worked against the GOP, too. Since World War II, the party in control of the White House has lost an average 31 House seats and six Senate seats in the second midterm election of a president's tenure in office.
Among governorships, New York, Ohio and Massachusetts were among the likeliest to swing Democratic, with incumbent Republican governors stepping down in each.
Inevitably, the stirrings of the next campaign were visible in this one. Sen. John McCain of Arizona traveled widely this fall, seeking a head start among Republicans looking at the 2008 presidential race. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., who recently said he was considering a 2008 candidacy, did likewise.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
