The vice president appeared with Rep. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), who defeated incumbent Sen. Alfonse M. D'Amato (R-N.Y.) after months of intense campaigning.
The First Lady addressed crowds in her home state of Illinois on behalf on incumbent Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun (D-Ill.), who nonetheless lost to her Republican challenger, 38-year-old Peter G. Fitzgerald--now the youngest senator.
The most effective support that Democratic candidates received from the White House, however, had less to do with personal endorsements than with tactical political maneuvering.
The Democrats, led by the president, devoted a substantial part of their campaign efforts to promoting voter participation in the inner-city.
In the last few weeks of campaigning, Democrats concentrated resources on urging urban minority voters to go to the polls.
This strategy served them well, as many Democratic winners last night received more than 70 percent of the black vote.
Victor suggested one reason black Americans stood so solidly behind Democrats.
"There is no group more angered...on the Lewinsky scandal front than African Americans," he said, explaining that many inner city residents believe the president is the victim of a political witch-hunt.
But Democrats did not rely on anti-scandal sentiment alone to bring black voters to the polls.
In a move some Republicans called blatant race-baiting, President Clinton announced last weekend that Attorney General Janet Reno would be sending out election monitors to New York, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and California to protect minorities from intimidation.
"There were several documented instances of attempts by Republican county, local and state organizations to intimidate...African Americans and Latinos," Wyche alleged.
Mike J. Donohue of the National Republican Congressional Committee responded by calling the Reno announcement a "rather cynical attempt to manipulate certain minority voters, particularly African American voters."
The success of the Democrats' last minute maneuvering to woo black voters stands in stark contrast to the failure of Republicans to launch final-stretch campaign efforts.
Alan Simpson, director of the Institute of Politics and a former Republican senator from Wyoming, chastised Republicans for not being vocal enough in responding to criticism from their Democratic opponents.
"An attack unanswered is an attack believed and, worse, an attack believed in," Simpson said