Nixon Wins Landslide Victory; Democrats Hold Senate, House

In his fifth national campaign, Mr. Nixon got from the voters what he asked -- "a new majority." He toppled traditional Democratic Strongholds in the North and made the Solid South solidly Republican.

While Mr. Nixon won the strongest victory imaginable in an election that posed what he called "the clearest choice in this century," the certainty of continued Democratic control of Congress underlined Republican National Chairman Bob Dole's comment that "this is a personal triumph for Mr. Nixon -- and not a party triumph."

The President rolled up huge margins in many states. The contrast to his razor-thin victory in 1968 could not have been more dramatic.

He carried all five states that went for Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace on the third-party ticket in 1968, as polling-place interviews indicated three-quarters of the former Wallace backers moved behind the Nixon candidacy.

McGovern had clear victories only in the District of Columbia and Massachusetts, as such former Democratic strongholds as Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, Michigan and Texas fell into the Nixon column.

Mr. Nixon had carried none of those states in either of his previous tries for the presidency in 1960 and 1968. This time he got them all -- as well as Arkansas, which had not gone Republican since 1868.

Vice President Agnew did most of the Republican campaigning in Wallace country, and in an appearance at a Republican victory celebration at the Shoreham Hotel. Mr. Nixon paid tribute to his running-mate as an outstanding campaigner, who 'never lost his cool" and who proved he could "take it and dish it out."

Wallace, whose own try for the Democratic nomination was halted by a would-be assassin's bullets, commented that the returns were "an indication that the people of this country are moving to the position that we thought ought to be the position."

The Alabama governor said he would work "to get the Democratic Party back to being the party of the average citizen."

Harry S. Dent Jr., a White House aide identified with the strategy for attracting the Wallace vote, said "the Southern strategy is working -- in fact, it's working all over the country."

The Nixon coattails helped the Republicans pick up Senate seats in Virginia, North Carolina, Oklahoma and New Mexico, but those gains were offset by Republican losses in Kentucky, Iowa, Maine and South Dakota.

The coattails were also important in seven House contests won by Republicans. They also played a part in holding such embattled positions as the Indiana governorship.