U.S. President George Bush is expected to move quickly to push his agenda through Congress, following the U.S. midterm election that saw Republicans reclaim control of the Senate and expand their majority in the House of Representatives.

Boosted by those gains, Bush is expected to step up pressure on Iraq and create a Cabinet department for homeland security.

Republican candidates took key victories on Tuesday to reclaim power in the 100-seat Senate. The Republicans now hold 51 Senate seats and the Democrats 46. One seat belongs to an Independent. Two Senate seats are still up in the air.

On Wednesday, Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson of South Dakota claimed victory over Republican Rep. John Thune. However, a recount is likely because of Johnson's narrow win, which was less than the required 0.25 per cent of the 334,000 senate ballots cast in the election.

As well, Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu was forced into a runoff Senate election, after no one candidate in Louisiana received at least 50 per cent of the vote. She will face Republican Suzanne Terrell on Dec. 7.

The latest results for the House of Representatives show the Republicans with 226 seats and the Democrats with 203. One seat has gone to an Independent.

This is the first time in 68 years that a president's party gained seats in both houses of Congress in a midterm election. That support is expected to translate into gains for Bush, who wants to create a Cabinet homeland security department and take steps to bolster the economy.

The race between Republican Norm Coleman over Democrat Walter Mondale for a Minnesota Senate seat captivated the nation. Mondale came out of retirement to campaign for the position following the recent death of Senator Paul Wellstone in a plane crash. In the end, he was edged out by Coleman.

"This has been one of the most unbelievable moments in Minnesota history, perhaps in modern American history. It's unbelievable," Mondale said Wednesday.

"To begin a campaign in the saddest of moments and then to have but one week to meet this extraordinary challenge -- it was wonderful. People responded, they gave me strength, they were there. It was electric," Mondale said.

In Washington, CTV's Kathy Tomlinson said the Coleman victory in Minnesota was one of the biggest surprises of the election. She said Mondale's past experience as a senator and a vice-president had created expectations he would win the race.

Governors' races

Thirty-six state governorships were at stake. One of the earliest results to come in was the victory of Florida Governor Jeb Bush, who was re-elected with 57 per cent of the vote. Tomlinson said Jeb Bush credited his victory to his older brother, the president, who made three trips to Florida to campaign on his behalf.

Tomlinson said another high-profile race produced surprising results. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, daughter of political icon Robert Kennedy, lost the governorship in Maryland to a little-known Republican.

Robert Ehrlich becomes the first Republican elected to Maryland's top office since 1966 when Spiro Agnew held the post. Kennedy Townsend had a double-digit lead over Erlich when he threw his hat into the ring six months ago.

Other members of her family have also been struggling in the political forum. Her brother, Max, bowed out of a congressional race after running a weak campaign. Her brother-in-law, Andrew Cuomo, abandoned his bid to represent the Democrats in the race for New York governor.

In New York, incumbent Republican Governor George Pataki was re-elected for a third term, no doubt helped by the goodwill of New York City Democrats following his assistance after last year's Sept. 11 attacks.

Canadian-born Jennifer Granholm became Michigan's first female governor, defeating Republican Lt.-Gov. Dick Posthumus. Granholm, previously Michigan's Democratic Attorney General, was born in Vancouver, raised in California after the age of four and became a U.S. citizen at 21.

In Illinois, Democrats ended nearly 30 years of Republican control as voters elected three-term Rep. Rod Blagojevich as governor. In Pennsylvania, Democrat Ed Rendell also won the previously Republican gubernatorial seat.

But one race didn't get particularly interesting until Wednesday morning. With echoes of the 2000 presidential election, both the Democratic and Republican candidates claimed victory in Alabama, each with 49 per cent of the vote.

Democratic candidate Don Siegelman was ahead when all the votes were counted Tuesday night, but his numbers dropped overnight. A judge blamed the change on a computer glitch, but Siegelman says a Republican-dominated county changed its vote totals. The new count puts Republican Bob Riley ahead by 3,195 votes.

While the state does not require a recount in such close cases, voters could seek a recount from a canvassing board.

Senate and congressional races

Two heavily favoured Senate incumbents, Republicans Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and John Warner of Virginia, were the night's first declared winners.

Elizabeth Dole held onto the Republican seat that was vacated by retiring Senator Jesse Helms in North Carolina. Dole served in the cabinets of Ronald Reagan and George Bush Sr., and is the wife of former Senator Bob Dole. That means the spouses of both presidential candidates in 1996 -- Dole and Hillary Clinton -- will face each other across the Senate aisle.

The Democrats faced further defeat in Georgia, where Republican Saxby Chambliss unseated the state's incumbent Democratic senator, Max Cleland. In Kentucky's third district, incumbent Anne Northup beat Democratic challenger Jack Conway, boosting Republican efforts to hold the House.

In Florida, Katherine Harris won a seat in the House of Representatives. Harris, who was previously Florida's Secretary of State, was blamed by many for the infamous discrepancies in ballot-handling in that state in the 2000 presidential election.

The glitches

Voting in some states was marred by allegation of irregularities and technical foul ups at new computerized voting stations. In Fort Worth, Texas, a computer glitch was expected to delay counting of approximately 300,000 ballots.

Technical problems with new touchscreen voting systems in Georgia could result in contested elections and lawsuits, according to election officials in that state.
In some areas, voting machines froze up and needed to be turned on and off, including one embarrassing incident as Mary Perdue, wife of Republican gubernatorial candidate Sonny Perdue, was casting her vote. Officials rebooted the computer and she continued with ease.

In other areas, machines listed the wrong candidates or omitted candidates.