Nation: Reagan Gets a G.O.P Senate

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Culver, meanwhile, kept slugging. He tried to capitalize on Grassley's 1977 vote against a steep hike in Social Security taxes to make the system solvent. Culver figured that lowans would be receptive to the issue since the state has the fourth highest percentage of people over 65 (after Arkansas, Florida and Rhode Island). But lowans showed that they are apparently far more concerned about high taxes than pensions and chose Grassley.

New York. During the campaign, Republican Alfonse D'Amato, 43, talked so much about the people of the "forgotten middle class" that it did not seem possible that they would ever be forgotten again. And they remembered Al. A virtual political unknown, who served as presiding supervisor of Hempstead Township on Long Island, D'Amato was given a slim chance indeed of winning a seat in the U.S. Senate. Moreover, he was an avowed conservative with the backing of the state Right to Life Party and aiming for a post that usually goes to a liberal. But he managed to eke out an apparent victory over Brooklyn Representative Elizabeth Holtzman, 39, with a bare margin of one percentage point; in third place, with 11% of the vote, was the Liberal Party candidate, Republican Jacob Javits, 76, who had held the seat for nearly 24 years before losing to D'Amato in the G.O.P. primary.

Javits' refusal to drop out of the race undoubtedly contributed to Holtzman's defeat. The earnest, rather humorless Democrat saw her initial lead slip away as she came under attack for consistently voting against defense appropriations. As emotional as Holtzman was restrained, D'Amato denounced the high taxes, declining services and accelerating crime that afflict New Yorkers. While losing some liberal support to Javits, Holtzman did not have sufficient appeal for the center; D'Amato moved in on that prized territory and apparently won, though Holtzman promised that there would be a recount.

South Dakota. In his past campaigns in his home state, George McGovern, 58, always started out behind but managed to win on Election Day. That did not happen this time. His personal popularity and adroit political balancing act—liberal on national issues but attentive to his conservative constituents' needs back home finally failed him, and he lost to Republican four-term Congressman James Abdnor, 57, by 58% to 39%. Said McGovern Aide Lynn Stoterau: "We were relying on the old McGovern magic and charisma, but we couldn't pull it out."

McGovern was also up against several national right-wing groups. At first, a sympathetic backlash for him seemed to be developing among voters who resented the involvement of out-of-staters in the Senate race. But the movement faded when Abdnor emphatically distanced himself from the conservatives' attacks.

Abdnor, a backslapping, elbow-grabbing wheat farmer, staked out more conservative positions than McGovern on almost every issue: abortion, federal spending, defense and Government regulation. Charging that McGovern had lost touch with the state, Abdnor observed, "Clearly, one of us has got to be wrong." The voters decided that it was McGovern, who, for all his talents, was too liberal for them.