Hartke Clings to Lead

Tuesday's national election has given the Nixon Administration an impressive slice of the Democrats' hegemony in Congress, but the Republicans' surprisingly poor showing in gubernatorial elections has placed in jeopardy their prospects for the Presidential race in 1972.

With one race still undecided, the Republicans gained one seat in the Senate, trimming the Democrats to a 53-to-44 margin. In the House, the Administration held its opposition to a net gain of eight seats, considerably less than the average gain of 35 seats made by a non-Presidential party in an off-year election. (The Democrats' House majority-with one contest still in doubt-is 254 to 180.)

But the Democrats, until now the gubernatorial party in only 18 states, will now claim 27 governors to the Republicans' 20. There is as yet no outcome in three contests: Maine, Michigan, and Rhode Island.

The undecided Senate race is in Indiana, and has been commonly regarded as a key contest in gauging the Administration's nationwide popularity. As of last night, liberal Democratic Senator Vance Hartke held a miniscule 4000-vote margin over reactionary Republican Richard Roudebush. But absentee ballots have not been counted and a statewide recount will take place, so the outcome will not be determined for some time.

In late-return Senate contests, Alaska's incumbent Republican Ted Stevens scored an impressive 3-to-2 victory over the Democratic challenger Wendell Kay. And in Nebraska, the entrenched Republican, Roman Hruska-a heavy pre-election favorite-eked out a win against his opponent with 52 per cent of the vote.

The tangible outcome of the Republicans' gains is in doubt because their victories leave the Democrats with Congressional majorities. But the Democratic gubernatorial sweep hasprovided that party with a far greater number of statewide bases from which to launch an offensive against Nixon in 1972.

The three prime contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination, Hubert H. Humphrey, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, and Sen. Edmund S. Muskie-all won seats in the Senate with comfortable ease.

At lest two of the Administration's Senate upsets lose much of their meaning because they were facilitated by third-party movements which split the Democrats' traditional areas of support.

In New York, most non-Republicans cast their votes for both Charles E. Goodell, the liberal Republican incumbent whom Agnew had blasted as "the Christene Jorgenson" of the party, and Democrat Rep. Richard L. Ottinger. Conservative James L. Buckley, who was supported by the Administration, won with only 38 per cent of the vote.

Connecticut's traditional Democratic vote was split between that party's peace candidate, Rev. Joseph Duffey, and Thomas Dodd, the Democrat incumbent running as an Independent. Republican Rep. Lowell P. Weiker won with 41 per cent of the vote.

In California, the Republican party suffered some severe setbacks. Incumbent Republican Gov. Ronald Reagan was re-elected with 55 per cent of the vote-much less than the 60 per cent-plus margin he had been expected to get. Despite intensive Administration efforts to capitalize on the San Jose rockthrowing incident, Democratic Rep. John Tunney defeated Republican topdancer George Murphy.

Republican superintendent of Public Instruction Max Rafferty was defeated by Democratic black deputy, Wilson Riles. The Democrats took control of both Houses from the Republicans in the California state legislature.

Studds Loses

Gerry Studds, the prep school teacher who helped manage Eugene McCarthy's presidential campaign in 1968, has lost a cliffhanger race for Congress in Massachusetts' Twelfth District.

Final returns yesterday afternoon left Studds, a Democrat, 1600 votes behind his Republican opponent, Rep. Hastings Keith. The vote count was 100,519 for Keith against 98,798 for Studds.

Studds, who ran an anti-Nixon, anti-war campaign, amassed an early lead in returns Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, drawing chiefly on his strength in the eastern part of the district, which includes New Bedford, Weymouth, and Cape Cod.