Democrats eke out slim wins.

• Author: Hansen, Karen
• Position: Democratic Party's performance in the Nov 1998 legislative elections

The election left the parties essentially at status quo, but the Democrats made slight gains in legislative seats.

It wasn't exactly a tidal wave, but Democrats nevertheless bucked conventional wisdom, pollsters and pundits and won seats in state legislative races when history would have them lose - and lose big - in this off-year election.

Going into the election controlling both houses of the legislature in 20 states, the Democrats emerged on Nov. 4 still in control of 20. The president's party has lost an average of 382 state legislative seats in mid-term elections since 1942. But 1998 will be the asterisk in the history books: Democrats picked up some 39 seats.

For the second time since their stunning defeats by Republicans in the 1994 legislative elections, Democrats have regained some lost ground, at least in terms of the numbers of seats they hold, if not legislatures. But they are still shy of the 24 legislatures they controlled before the election four years ago, and their margin of control remains smaller than it has been in 30 years. When factoring in off-year elections in 1997 in Virginia and New Jersey, Democrats actually lost a seat. Republicans, who had gone from controlling eight legislatures to 19 in 1994, have slid back to 17 today. Twelve legislatures have split party control (Nebraska, a unicameral legislature, is nonpartisan).

"We found the key to the Democrats' success in this election were people who said their financial situation had improved under Clinton and they expressed it in a vote of confidence for Democrats all over the country - not huge, but big enough to keep the Republicans [TABULAR DATA OMITTED] from making any gains and to create a big disappointment in the GOP," says political analyst William Schneider.

Democrats reclaimed the Wisconsin Senate after losing it in a special election in April. They took back the North Carolina House, and won the New Hampshire Senate for the first time since 1912. They won the Senate in Washington and tied the House. They gained a majority in the Indiana House, which had been tied, although the Democrats were in control through a statutory agreement passed after the House was last tied.

The GOP, on the other hand, scored some important victories. Republicans won back the Michigan House, having lost it to the Democrats in 1996. The Minnesota House is in Republican hands for the first time since 1984, and Florida became the first Southern state since Reconstruction to give...