Missouri boosts GOP in state, nation

ST. LOUIS -- Republican Jim Talent insisted Wednesday he won't automatically fall in step with President Bush when he joins a new GOP-controlled Senate.

Not that the White House should worry about having a maverick on its hands. Talent campaigned on an agenda matching Bush's ideas for creating jobs, improving health-care benefits and boosting defense spending.

But Missouri's new senator showed a flash of independence, rejecting the idea his party defied history by reclaiming the Senate and beefing up their hold on the House.

"In this era, where the parties are so effective at targeting battleground seats and putting money in them ... trends like that are less important than the candidate and the effort on the ground," Talent told reporters at a news conference in downtown St. Louis.

"That's just how I view last night's election -- there were a bunch of close elections where Republicans happened to win most of them, and I'm very pleased as a Republican," Talent said. "I don't know that it was all that historic, and maybe that's not the party line today."

Return to power

His victory, along with a handful of other squeakers across the nation, assured Republicans of at least 51 seats in the 100-member Senate.

But Talent's win could return the GOP to power by next week, because he won a special election for the final four years of the term Democratic incumbent Sen. Jean Carnahan hoped to finish.

By law, Talent takes office as soon as results are certified, a formality that rests with Democratic Gov. Bob Holden -- the man who defeated Talent by a similarly narrow margin just two years ago.

On Wednesday, Holden erased any doubts about whether he would act quickly, issuing a one-sentence statement: "Following certification by the secretary of state, my role as governor is to notify the U.S. Senate of the certified results of the election, which I will do immediately."

Mrs. Carnahan said in an interview Wednesday she would return later in the week to Washington to start cleaning out her Senate office. She called Talent around 1 a.m. Wednesday to concede the election.

"It was brief," Mrs. Carnahan said of the conversation. "He thanked me for a serious campaign and I told him I will help him all I can."

She added: "We need to get the headquarters cleaned up and get our staff worked out. Win or lose, there is a lot of transition in life."

Mrs. Carnahan took office under tragic circumstances two years ago, after her husband died campaigning three weeks before the election. Voters chose the late Gov. Mel Carnahan anyway over incumbent Republican Sen. John Ashcroft, who later became Bush's attorney general.

Talent's transition will begin after some pending family commitments -- parent-teacher conferences Thursday for his children, his son's football team banquet this weekend, and protecting the roses at his home in suburban St. Louis from frost that is sure to arrive soon.

As a congressman, Talent family's stayed in Missouri and he commuted to Washington during the week. He and his wife, Brenda, will wait until after the school year to settle on whether to keep up the same schedule.

Lott and wife talk

The president called Talent Wednesday morning to congratulate him, although Senate Republican leader Trent Lott had to settle on a conversation with Brenda Talent because her husband was finishing a radio interview.

Talent said Republicans will be under pressure politically because they will control Congress and the public expects them to produce. But he disagreed that Republicans will be pressured to bolster Bush or position themselves for the 2004 elections.

"Most of what we need to do won't affect the national picture in the next elections," Talent said. "That's what I'm going to try and tell people -- let's not worry about that, because that's not going to affect it anyway. Why don't we just do the right thing, you know -- maybe that'll work, politically."

Talent was already laying out plans for legislation where he thinks the two parties can compromise, including prescription drug coverage, homeland security, energy policy and tax cuts.

And he said a favorite idea of his -- allowing small businesses to join together in health insurance groups under federal law to push down rates and offer more coverage-- is doable because he can rally the business community behind Democrats who sign on.

"They're all aware of the problem, I'm sure," Talent said. "I'm going to approach that from a political perspective. I'm going to say, 'Look, you can be a hero for small business,' which Democrats are constantly looking for."