Nine House, Senate seats undecided

WASHINGTON, Nov. 7 (UPI) -- Democrats swept into the White House and expanded their congressional majorities, but nine House and Senate races remained undecided, election officials said.

"The simple fact of the matter is that they haven't finished counting ballots," said Brad Bauman, a spokesman for Ohio Democrat Mary Jo Kilroy, who was waiting out another close House battle.

After the counting was done in Oregon, Democrat Jeff Merkley narrowly edged GOP Sen. Gordon Smith on Thursday. That increased the Senate's Democratic voting majority to 57-40, including two independents, USA Today said Friday. There was little movement on the other undecided contests.

Alaska Republican Sen. Ted Stevens, convicted of failing to report gifts he received, held a narrow lead over Democratic challenger Mark Begich.

In Minnesota, Republican Sen. Norm Coleman led Democratic challenger Al Franken by a few hundred votes out of 2.9 million. State law calls for a recount when the margin is less than 0.5 percent.

As Senate Democrats counted their new majority, they also tried to figure out what to do with Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman. Lieberman , an independent who was the Democratic vice presidential nominee eight years ago and who usually sided with Democrats, endorsed Republican John McCain for president.