Dems Complete Election Sweep of Congress

Senate candidate Jim Webb, D-Va., gestures during remarks at an election night event in this Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2006 file photo in Vienna, Va. Webb won Virginia's pivotal U.S. Senate race Wednesday, unseating Republican George Allen and giving the Democrats total control of Congress. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) (Evan Vucci - AP)

But Democrats began the year with fewer seats than at any time since Herbert Hoover occupied the White House. Even Reid, the Senate's party leader, mused aloud at one point that it might take a miracle to capture Senate control.

"From changing course in Iraq to raising the minimum wage to fixing the health care crisis to making this country energy independent, we're ready to get to work," he said in a statement late Wednesday.

Earlier, Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., all but certain to become the next minority leader, said: "In the Senate, the minority is never irrelevant unless it falls down into the very small numbers. I don't think, as a practical matter, it's going to make a whole lot of difference in the Senate, being at 49."

Webb's win capped a banner election year for Democrats, who benefited from the voters' desire to issue a searing rebuke of the status quo.

The president, who spoke of spending his political capital after his successful re-election two years ago, acknowledged, "As the head of the Republican Party, I share a large part of the responsibility."

With power on Capitol Hill tilting, Bush announced that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld would step down as Democrats have demanded.

The war in Iraq, scandals in Congress and declining support for Bush and Republicans on Capitol Hill defined the battle for House and Senate control, with the public embracing the Democrats' call for change to end a decade of one-party rule in Washington.

"This new Democratic majority has heard the voices of the American people," said Pelosi, adding that Americans placed their trust in Democrats. "We will honor that trust. We will not disappoint."

With the GOP booted from power, lame-duck Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., announced he will not run for leader of House Republicans when Democrats take control in January.

"Obviously I wish my party had won," Hastert said in a statement that added he intends to return to the "full-time task" of representing his Illinois constituents.

In the Senate, Democrats soundly defeated Republicans in Ohio, Missouri, Rhode Island, and Pennsylvania. The battle for Senate power came down to Virginia and Montana _ and vote counts for those stretched into Wednesday.

By midday, Tester rode to victory over Burns, a three-term senator whose campaign was shadowed by a series of missteps and his ties to Jack Abramoff, the disgraced lobbyist at the center of an influence-peddling investigation.