Sen. Kent Conrad and Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D., fresh from easy re-election victories, are returning to Washington with their party in control of the House and the Senate.

"I won't have a (committee chairman's) gavel, but I will have votes and that's almost as good," Pomeroy said.

Conrad got 69 percent of the vote against Republican challenger Dwight Grotberg, and Pomeroy gained 66 percent against Republican Matt Mechtel in Tuesday's election, on a night when Democrats made gains throughout the country.

Grotberg, on the other hand, found out later that even McDonald's turned out the lights on him.

"That kind of says it all," he said, chuckling about his failed attempt to buy ice cream after learning he lost the Senate race to Conrad.

"I believe that some of the issues are going to fare better in the new Congress," Pomeroy said.

"For some reason, disaster aid to farmers - just for one example - became a party line issue. I think the prospects will be much better to have a disaster bill."

Pomeroy said the national results also showed anxiety about the war in Iraq.

"It says the American people, in my view, have lost confidence in the president's conduct of this war," he said.

Conrad, a ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, said he believes people are tired of the war and mounting debt.

"We need to change the course, not stay the course," he said.

"I think there also was a sense that the majority party in Congress had become somewhat arrogant."

Conrad, 58, was first elected to the Senate in 1986. Pomeroy, 54, has served in the House since 1992. They were overwhelming favorites against Grotberg, 39, of Sanborn, and Mechtel, 37, of Page.

With all the state's precincts reporting Tuesday, unofficial totals gave Conrad 69 percent of the votes, or 149,317, to 30 percent, or 64,113, for Grotberg. Independent candidates Roland Riemers and James Germalic each received about 1 percent of the vote.

In the House race, Pomeroy had 66 percent of the votes, or 142,121, while Mechtel had 34 percent, or 74,364.