Democrat Landrieu wins tight Senate race in La.

NEW ORLEANS -- Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu beat back a fierce Republican challenge led by President Bush and won a second term Saturday, giving her party a midterm consolation prize that limits the GOP's Senate majority to 51 seats.

Landrieu fended off Republican Suzanne Haik Terrell, the state elections commissioner who had touted herself as a close friend and ally of the president.

With 99 percent of precincts reporting, Landrieu had 627,253 votes, or 51 percent, and Terrell had 591,791, or 49 percent.

The GOP also failed to hang on to a U.S. House seat in the final election of the calendar year. Democratic state legislator Rodney Alexander edged Republican Lee Fletcher by just 518 votes in the race for the seat Republican John Cooksey gave up to make an unsuccessful Senate bid.

With all precincts reporting, Alexander had 85,720 votes and Fletcher had 85,202 votes in the heavily conservative district. There was no immediate word from Fletcher on whether he will seek a recount.

Republicans took control of the Senate last month and Bush had campaigned here last week in hopes of pushing Terrell to victory. Landrieu scrambled to cast herself as a centrist who backed Bush three-fourths of the time but wouldn't be a "rubber stamp" for the president.

Secretary of State Fox McKeithen said he expected turnout to be 45 percent -- low by Louisiana standards. Voters seemed dismayed by the sharp salvos between the two New Orleans women who share the same views on most political issues.

Tom Loesch, a Democrat from New Orleans, said he was "saddened to have to choose between two Republicans, one of them in a Democrat's clothing." He said he had to support Landrieu because he "didn't want to give Bush anything else."

Landrieu, 46, has been in politics all her life. The daughter of former New Orleans Mayor Moon Landrieu, she won her first term six years ago with a 6,000-vote squeaker, prompting her to joke that she was no "Landslide Landrieu."

This time, she won by some 35,000 votes against a 48-year-old lawyer who came out of nowhere three years ago to become the first Republican woman to win statewide office, as elections commissioner. Terrell had hoped to become the first Republican senator here since Reconstruction.

While the rest of the nation decided its congressional elections Nov. 5, Louisiana held a unique open primary where candidates from both sides run. Landrieu failed to get the simple majority needed for outright victory and wound up in the runoff with second-place finisher Terrell.

Republicans held 51 seats in the Senate after the November elections and took aim at this race for the icing on the cake. In addition to bragging rights, an additional GOP seat would have been ammunition in the fight to get more committee seats.

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