"The president is very pleased,'' said spokesman Joe Lockart, adding "there were some formidable and historical precedents working against us.''

Democrats fended off Republican attempts to increase their majority in the senate and actually picked up seats in the House. It was the first time since 1934 that the president's party made mid-term election gains.

Lockart would not directly comment on the view that the results were a symbolic vote against the Republicans' pending impeachment hearings into Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky.

But he said ``the message is that public responds positively to candidates who talk about issues that are important to their lives.''