By Michael Paulson, Globe Staff, 11/8/2000

BURLINGTON, Vt. - In an election widely viewed as a referendum on same-sex relationships, Vermonters yesterday reelected Howard Dean, the longtime Democratic governor who put his political career on the line by allowing gays and lesbians to enter state-sanctioned relationships similar to marriage.

Gay rights supporters called the results a victory over hatred.

Dean, whose Republican opponent had promised to overturn civil unions for same-sex couples, told a boisterous crowd of supporters last night that this election was the toughest of his career. ''Vermont remains a state of tolerance and decency and respect for our neighbors,'' he said.

His GOP challenger, Ruth Dwyer, whose forces had marshaled behind the evocative slogan ''Take Back Vermont,'' appeared stunned by the margin of her defeat. She appeared to be winning less support than she did in 1998, when she garnered 41 percent of the vote in her first bid to unseat Dean.

''The people of Vermont clearly don't believe what we believe, and we've got to accept that,'' Dwyer told crestfallen supporters gathered in Montpelier. ''I think we did as well as any group of people could have done to try to convince the people that we need a change. We didn't convince them.''

Senate majority leader Dick McCormack, a Democrat from Bethel, said that while the vote wasn't necessarily a mandate, ''it says to those who took such an ugly, hurtful, and accusing stance on civil unions: Cut it out; we've had enough. We would like to live decently. We're tired of your hatred.''

The election, which some polls had indicated would be much closer, was dominated by the issue of civil unions. The new law, which the state Legislature passed in April in response to a state Supreme Court ruling, gives same-sex couples most of the same benefits and responsibilities of heterosexual couples who get married.

Supporters of civil unions were jubilant last night. US Senator Patrick Leahy, a Democrat, declared, ''My family has been in Vermont since 1850, and I've never been more proud than I am tonight.''

Beth Robinson, the director of Vermonters for Civil Unions, said the result demonstrated that ''there was not the overwhelming groudswell of opposition to civil rights for all Vermonters that some people would like.''

Dean, in declaring victory, attempted to reach out to Vermonters upset about civil unions. He said his victory was really about Vermonters deciding to focus on other issues, such as the importance of health care for children. But, acknowledging the division created by a bitter debate over civil unions, he said, ''Our task over the next few months is to reach out to all Vermonters.''

This year's election was complicated by the presence of a strong third-party candidate, community organizer Anthony Pollina of Burlington, who challenged Dean from the left. Pollina threatened to prevent Dean from winning the 50 percent of the votes necessary under Vermont's unusual election laws, which provide that the Legislature chooses the governor if no candidate wins an outright majority.

But Dean said that Dwyer, in her concession call to him, promised not to contest his victory before the Legislature even if Dean's total slipped below 50 percent, and that promise seemed to guarantee his victory.

The civil unions issue did cost others their jobs. Five Republican supporters of civil unions were ousted in the GOP primary. The balance of power in the state Senate was still undecided late last night. However, the Republicans appeared to be on the way to taking over the House, according to Patrick Garahan, the state's Republican Party chairman.

Dean, a 51-year-old physician from Burlington, has been governor since 1991.

Dwyer, a 42-year-old Thetford horse trainer, attempted to exploit the anger of a segment of Vermonters upset not only about civil unions, but also about earlier Vermont laws affecting property taxes and land conservation regulations.

This year's campaign was the most expensive in Vermont's history, and has largely been funded by out-of-state interests that support or oppose civil unions. The national Democratic and Republican parties each poured more than $500,000 each into the state.

The campaign was divisive, with both sides trading angry rhetoric and nasty name-calling.

Mike Backman, a 39-year-old software consultant from Woodstock, said he voted for Dean because of the civil unions issue. Backman signed up for a civil union with his partner, saying that the couple wanted to be eligible for the same benefits as their heterosexual friends.

''I would not support any candidate who did not support civil unions,'' Backman said.

In other races in Vermont yesterday, US Senator James M. Jeffords, a Republican, easily defeated his Democratic opponent, Edward Flanagan, the first openly gay major-party nominee for the US Senate. US Representative Bernard Sanders, a socialist, also easily won reelection.

Bryan Marquard of the Globe Staff contributed to this report.