epublicans clung nervously to control of Congress yesterday, amid signs that the often nasty partisanship that has gridlocked the legislative branch this year may only deepen in the new, more closely divided Congress.
Tallying the results from a series of excruciatingly close races in both houses, Republicans counted a 50-49 majority in the Senate and a 220-211 margin of control in the House of Representatives. Mail-in ballots for a US Senate race in Washington were still being counted yesterday, and the results of two House races were still too close to call.
Exhausted and anxious over the undecided presidential race, members of Congress found that they, too, lacked an overwhelming mandate from the people.
Although leaders of each party said they now recognize an amplified need for bipartisan cooperation, there was an undercurrent of defiance among both Democrats and Republicans.
Senate Democrats, counting on a victory in Washington, insisted that a 50-50 split would entitle them to equal parity on committees.
''I think we have to be included,'' said the Senate minority leader, Thomas Daschle, Democrat of South Dakota. ''In process questions, in the organization of the Senate, in the way we set the agenda, in the opportunity to offer amendments, simply include us.''
But an even split - which has not occurred since 1881 - would in effect give majority rule to the Republicans, who showed little willingness to make such concessions. If George W. Bush is elected president, his vice president, Dick Cheney, would provide the tie-breaking vote.
Should Vice President Al Gore claim the White House, his vice president, Connecticut Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, is expected to resign his Senate seat. The Republican governor of Connecticut, John Rowland, would then name a Republican replacement, giving the GOP a majority.
The hard-fought and emotional congressional races left some bad feelings on Capitol Hill. Republicans were distressed at the news that Hillary Rodham Clinton, who will be a daily reminder of the president they tried so hard to oust from office, had claimed a Senate seat in New York.
The Republican senators saw four incumbent colleagues go down to defeat and faced the possibility that a fifth would fall.
Clinton's historic election evoked some testy comments from the majority leader, Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi.
''I tell you one thing, when this Hillary gets to the Senate - if she does; maybe lightning will strike and she won't - she will be one of 100 and we won't let her forget it,'' Lott said in Mississippi.
But the Democrats, while pleased with their gains in both houses, were crushed at their failure to win control of at least one chamber despite record campaign spending.
Because of the lingering uncertainties, members of both parties were deprived of the usual relief that election night brings. By last night, both Republican and Democratic stomachs were in knots over the ongoing drama of presidential and congressional races.
At the heart of the matter was Lieberman, who angered some members of his own party when he decided to run simultaneously for both his Senate seat and the vice presidency. With the possibility that the Senate will split between the two parties, some Democrats said privately that they wished Lieberman, if elected to both offices, would resign the vice presidency so the Democrats could take back the Senate - a highly unlikely scenario.
One open question was put to rest with civility yesterday, when Senator John Ashcroft, Republican of Missouri, announced that he would not challenge the victory of a dead man, Missouri Governor Mel Carnahan. Carnahan's widow, Jean, has been tapped to serve his term.
''We're not going to pursue this legally,'' said Stuart Roy, spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
''Jean Carnahan and her family have endured unimaginable pain in these last few weeks'' since the governor was killed in a plane crash, said Senator Robert Torricelli, chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. ''Jean Carnahan should not have to endure anything further.''
The expected appointment of Carnahan, on top of victories for Clinton and US Representative Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, brings the number of women in the US Senate to a record 12. And Washington Democrat Maria Cantwell, a former representative, could add to that list if she beats incumbent Republican Senator Slade Gorton.
Lawmakers in both parties suggested that they might lure members from the opposing party to their respective sides to gain or build on a majority. One Democratic senator said there was some ''reaching out'' to moderate Republicans in the hope they would switch, but neither party could produce names of possible converts yesterday.
With the balance of power so evenly matched - and the new president so narrowly elected - it will be difficult to get major legislation passed, analysts and members of Congress said.
''I think the public wants us to try to work in a bipartisan way. The next president must do that,'' said Representative Martin T. Meehan, Democrat of Lowell. But ''it's very difficult to get parties to govern when the election is so close.''
The current Congress has been bitterly divided and still must return this month to complete a federal budget that is six weeks overdue. Bogged down with partisan bickering, name-calling, and parliamentary maneuvering, Congress failed to get an agreement on legislation addressing a patient's bill of rights, drug coverage for the eldery, gun violence, the minimum wage, and tax reform.
''We are probably not going to see any large initiatives get through, no matter who is president,'' said presidential scholar William Leuchtenburg of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Part of the reason is that the new president will not have a clear mandate, Leuchtenburg said, noting the similar example of President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1886. Hayes was called ''His Accidency'' and ''His Fraudulency'' because of his contested election, and he accomplished virtually nothing, Leuchtenburg said.
''I think it's the same equation for either'' Bush or Gore, said Senator John F. Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts. ''Whoever it is is going to have to reach out and put together an agenda you can build a consensus around. You can't expect to slam anything at anyone here.''
