WASHINGTON -- President Bush gambled and won in Tuesday's congressional elections, reaping big dividends for his legislative agenda and his own re-election campaign.

This year's outcome defies political history and lets Bush claim the mandate that eluded him when he took office two years ago after losing the popular vote. At the same time, the president tightened his grip on the Republican Party, and enters the cycle leading up to his 2004 re-election campaign as a much more formidable political leader.

Bush put his prestige on the line. He made the election a referendum on his presidency by campaigning as if he were on the ballot himself: He hit 15 states in the final five days alone, pushing hard for Republican candidates. His tireless efforts paid off when Republicans added to their majority in the House of Representatives and reclaimed control of the Senate.

The last time Republicans held the House, Senate and White House was 1952-54. The last time a president's party gained seats in both the House and Senate in his first midterm election was 1934, two years into Franklin D. Roosevelt's first term.

"The winner in this election is George Bush. He is the legitimate, bona fide 800-pound gorilla. There's no way around that," said Keith Appell, a veteran Republican consultant.

Even some defeated Democrats gave Bush his due.

"I think the president won a big victory here," defeated Senate candidate Walter Mondale said Wednesday. "This was a sweep, and we could feel the undertow here in Minnesota. He will claim a mandate, and I think the public will accept that."

Simultaneously, Bush is strengthening his hand internationally. His patient diplomacy at the United Nations over the past two months led to agreement this week among almost all members of the Security Council on how to force Iraq to give up its nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. The president is expected to win a Security Council resolution by Friday, diplomats said.

White House aides lost no time in laying out plans to leverage Bush's enhanced clout. He will focus first on reviving his plan for a new homeland security agency and his proposal to have the federal government backstop private companies that offer terrorism insurance, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said. Those issues will be at the top of the presidential agenda next week when the current Congress returns for Washington for a lame-duck session.

Bush's to-do list for the new Congress that convenes in January is headed by a renewed push to confirm conservative judicial nominees. It also includes: legislation that would make easier for religious charities to get federal aid; a producer-friendly energy policy; a ban on human cloning; and a patients' bill of rights that would give people more clout in dealing with insurance companies and health maintenance organizations.

White House aides also are considering ambitious new initiatives for the final two years of Bush's term, including an overhaul of the federal income-tax system, a new round of tax cuts and a plan to let workers invest some of their Social Security taxes in the stock market. Bush is expected to outline his plans in his State of the Union speech early next year.

"It's fair to say that the president totally agrees that the tax code is much too complicated. It's a headache for many people who have to fill it out every year. And for people who don't fill it out every year, it's a headache for them to pay somebody to do it," Fleischer said.

Some checks remain on Bush's influence on Capitol Hill. He will still have to deal with a narrowly divided Congress. In the Senate, Democrats will retain the ability to use filibusters and other parliamentary tactics to block White House proposals that can't muster 60 Senate votes; Republicans will number only 51 of the 100 members.

But Tuesday's election showed that Bush's opponents might pay a price for crossing him.

Many of the GOP victors will come to Washington indebted to Bush. In addition to his numerous campaign appearances, he raised more than $140 million for Republicans. GOP candidates also benefited from an elaborate get-out-the-vote campaign engineered by Karl Rove, the president's chief political adviser, and Bush operatives at GOP headquarters in Washington.

The chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Terry McAuliffe, acknowledged Wednesday that Bush deserved credit for his party's gains: "This year, he became the fund-raiser in chief, the campaigner in chief, for the Republican candidates.

"And at a time when the president had the longest sustained approval rating in the history of our country, raising lots of money out there, he clearly was an important factor in these elections, absolutely."

Republican Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi, who is in line to become Senate majority leader, called the election results "an incredible, historical endorsement of support" for Bush.

After staying up late Tuesday to watch election night coverage and congratulate the winners, Bush stayed out of public view Wednesday to avoid drawing attention away from victorious Republican candidates. But no one expected him to stay silent for long.

"In the aftermath of Sept. 11, he amassed a great deal of political capital. He invested it, and it paid off big time," Appell said. "In the aftermath of this political victory, he has amassed even more political capital. I'm sure he'll invest it again."
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