GOP: Election no vote for 'big' government

WASHINGTON, Nov. 9 (UPI) -- Two leading Republican U.S. House members said Sunday the outcome of Tuesday's election should not be seen as endorsement of "big-government" philosophy.

In an appearance on "Fox News Sunday," Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., said voters elected a Democratic president and expanded the Democratic Party majorities in the House and Senate because they associated the Republican Party with "a tremendous distrust … in their government."

"I think if you look at some of the indicators in the polling post the election, this was not some kind of realignment of the electorate," Cantor said, "not some kind of shift of the American people toward some style of European, social, big-government type of philosophy."

Cantor, who is widely expected to become the third-ranking member of the Republican caucus in the House, said the GOP will "have to regroup" following Tuesday's losses.

Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., said Tuesday's outcome was a victory for President-elect Barack Obama, but does not suggest a liberal political realignment.

"(Obama) was an extraordinarily compelling figure," Pence said. "And the fact that (Republican nominee) John McCain still came away with, I think, 46 percent of the vote shows the resilience and durability of common-sense conservative ideals."