MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Former Reagan official tilts Congress for Democrats

Republican Senator George Allen gracefully conceded defeat Thursday after a bruising battle against Democrat Jim Webb, sealing the Democrats' control of the US Congress.

Allen said the "owners of government have spoken and I respect their decision. The Bible teaches us there is a time and place for everything, and today I called and congratulated Jim Webb and his team for their victory," he said. .

Webb, a former Republican and Navy secretary under President Reagan, claimed victory early Wednesday after election returns showed him with a narrow lead of about 7,200 votes out of 2.37 million ballots cast. Mr Webb had been leading by about 7,000 votes, and although Mr Allen could have demanded a recount, it became clear that further checks were unlikely to alter the result. .

"I see no good purpose being served by continuously and needlessly expending money and causing any more personal animosity," he said. "Rather than bitterness, I want to focus on how best Virginians can be effectively served by their new junior senator"..

The Virginia contest was the last undecided Senate race in the US mid term elections and Webb's victory tipped the scales, giving the Democrats control of 51 Senate seats and majorities in both the House and Senate for the first time since 1994. .

The Senate victory will also give the Democrats key posts on powerful congressional committees. They will also have more control over federal spending and the right to hold hearings and approve presidential appointments, including to the Supreme Court. .

In the Virginia race, Allen had been expected to cruise to a second term this year and make a run for the White House in 2008. The son of a Hall of Fame American football coach, Allen served as governor in the 1990s and was popular for abolishing parole and instituting other conservative reforms. .

But in Webb he faced an unconventional challenger. Supporters drafted Webb, a political neophyte, to run because of his early opposition to the Iraq war. .

Allen, 54, was comfortably ahead in polls until August, when he mockingly referred to a Webb campaign volunteer of Indian descent as "Macaca," regarded by some as a racial slur. The incident, caught on videotape, became international news. Some former football teammates from the University of Virginia also charged that Allen had commonly used a slur for blacks _ something he denied. .

Webb, a 60-year-old Naval Academy graduate and decorated Vietnam veteran, tried to tie Allen to President Bush and the war during the campaign. He also seized the Reagan edge, having served in the former president's administration, and used a video in ads that showed Reagan praising him.