Win is razor thin for Dems.

• Author: Hansen, Karen
• Position: Democrats

THE OFF-YEAR ELECTIONS NETTED DEMOCRATS 11 NEW SEATS AROUND THE COUNTRY, BUT THEY CONTROL FEWER LEGISLATURES THATN THEY DID SINCE THE 1930s.

The GOP's march on the South stalled in November's off-year election when it failed to win control of the Virginia Legislature and lost one seat in Mississippi. But despite a handful of new seats, Democrats have actually lost control in three legislatures in the past year.

In the three states with regular off-year elections - Mississippi, New Jersey and Virginia - the Democrats stemmed the 1994 Republican electoral tide, winning a net of six seats. (Louisiana's Nov. 18 election results were unavailable at press time.) In all, 409 state legislative seats in nine states were up for election .Tuesday (some were special elections to fill vacancies) and voters gave Democrats the edge, electing 13 new Democrat's and two new Republicans.

VIRGINIA VICTORY FOR DEMS

Clearly, the biggest victory for Democrats was in Virginia where the GOP under Governor George Allen had hoped to do what has never before been done - win both houses of the legislature in the former Confederate capital Republicans needed to win three seats in the Senate and four in the House of Delegates to take control of the legislature and make Virginia the first all-Republican southern state since Reconstruction.

But despite the $1.2 million raised by Governor Allen for the races, the election assault failed in the House of Delegates, where Democrats maintained their 52-47 lead (with one independent). Republicans did gain two Senate seats and tied the chamber 20-20. The GOP ousted Senate Majority Leader Hunter Andrews, a 32-year veteran of the Senate. As chairman of the prestigious Finance Committee, Andrews was widely considered the most powerful member of the Senate.

The Democrats hope to organize the Senate with the tie-breaking vote of the lieutenant governor, Donald Beyer Jr. But Republicans say the state constitution does not specifically allow Beyer to vote on procedural resolutions and are considering legal action to stop him. Republicans are also trying to persuade conservative Democrats to switch parties.

In the House, where Democrats held their own, Speaker Thomas Moss said: "I fought a lot of battles in my political career, but this is truly Virginia's finest hour."

Still, political scientist Alan Rosenthal of Rutgers University doesn't see the news in Virginia as particularly negative for Republicans.

"In Virginia, you read the...