Nevada's election night results respected no bedtimes Tuesday, with several high-profile races going down to the wire and being decided by a small fraction of the vote.

Democrats made gains in statewide offices and both state legislative houses, but Nevada Republicans were able to hang on in close races for governor and two seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The midterm election wasn't a resounding win for either political party, but "the state inched a little more blue," University of Nevada, Las Vegas, political scientist David Damore said Tuesday night.

Republicans held on to some high-priority seats they already had.

But Democrats gave them spirited challenges and took previously Republican seats further down the ticket, Damore said.

For the last two years, all six of Nevada's statewide officers have been Republicans. Now at least half are Democrats, with Gov.-elect Jim Gibbons and Lt. Gov.-elect Brian Krolicki the lone successful Republicans. The race for state controller was close early today, but Democrat Kim Wallin was leading.

Democrats gained one seat in the state Senate and another in the Assembly, unseating state Sen. Sandra Tiffany, R-Las Vegas, and Assemblyman Brooks Holcomb, R-Reno. But power won't change hands in either body. The state Senate will be 11 Republicans to 10 Democrats, while the Assembly will have 27 Democrats and 15 Republicans.

Clark County got two new Democratic county commissioners, one of whom took a previously Republican seat, thanks in part to aggressive support from local unions. The balance on the county commission was already 4-3 in favor of Democrats; it will now be 5-2.

Democrats also won the open seats for county recorder and public administrator.

Also Tuesday, Nevadans voted for the stricter of two smoking initiatives, to raise their minimum wage and to limit government's ability to take their property, but not to allow possession of marijuana for recreational use.

But despite a national Democratic wave that was reaching tsunami proportions, with the possibility still open early today that the Democratic Party could win majorities in both houses of Congress, Nevada's top Democratic candidates were unable to come up with victories.

Rep. Jon Porter, who represents suburban Clark County, beat Democratic challenger Tessa Hafen to win re-election by 3,900 votes. Republican Dean Heller, running to replace Rep. Jim Gibbons for the Northern Nevada congressional seat, was 7,567 votes ahead of Democrat Jill Derby with two-thirds of the votes counted.

And with most precincts, including 100 percent of Clark County, reporting results early today, Gibbons was ahead of Titus by more than 20,000 votes.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said in an interview he still saw Nevada as a net gain for Democrats. "The winds are blowing in Nevada also," he said in a phone interview from Washington, D.C. "Tessa Hafen coming as close as she is; the constitutional offices at least evenly split Democrat and Republican, the way it should be; we now have five Democrats on the County Commission -- Boggs McDonald was slaughtered; I'm very, very happy."

Before running for office, Hafen served as Reid's press secretary in Washington.

But Paul Adams, chairman of the Nevada Republican Party, said Republicans had done what they set out to do.

"We knew many races were going to be close," he said. "In the key races, we're where we ought to be: the (U.S.) Senate, Porter, Dean Heller, Gibbons, Krolicki."

U.S. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., never considered seriously at risk of losing, easily beat his Democratic challenger, presidential son Jack Carter.

Adams attributed Republicans' ability to hold those seats to Nevada's solidly Republican rural counties. "The rurals win elections in Nevada, for Republicans," he said. "The results in those key races are showing that the get-out-the vote effort in those targeted races worked for us."

On a warm, sunny day in Las Vegas, turnout was no higher than usual. Of Clark County registered voters, 56 percent turned out to vote, compared to 57 percent in the last midterm election in 2002.

Statewide voter turnout figures were not available early today.

At the Democrats' election-night gathering at Caesars Palace Tuesday night, the mood was jubilant, with whoops and hollers erupting each time the national television networks showed Democrats pulling ahead. A particularly big cheer went up when, around 9 p.m., Democratic Virginia Senate candidate Jim Webb appeared to edge ahead of Republican Sen. George Allen.

Cameron Johnson raised his gin-and-tonic in celebration. "It's a sign of better things to come," said the 25-year-old who had spent the day canvassing for the Nevada Conservation League. "Virginia has always been part of the solid South."

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., who coasted to victory, was exuberant and sparkly in a rhinestone-studded blue skirt suit.

"We won back the House!" she crowed. "I've never been in the majority before."

Berkley said she looked forward to getting legislation on the minimum wage, homeland security and immigration passed.

"The American people sent a strong message tonight," she said. "This isn't just a good night for the Democrats, this is a good night for America. We're going to have shared governance."

The Republican gathering at Red Rock Station was subdued by comparison; at 8 p.m. the ballroom was still uncrowded as Republicans munched fruit and brie and paced their visits to an unhosted bar where juices cost $4 and the prices went up to $12 for cognacs.

The crowd broke into cheers when television projections began to show Porter and Heller pulling ahead, but cheers were hard to come by when national results were being broadcast.

State Sen. Bob Beers, R-Las Vegas, said he was at a loss to predict the upshot of it all. "Between John Kerry and the governor's race, late-breaking information has been more significant than in any other election cycle I can recall," he said. "With so much early voting, that left my crystal ball shattered on the floor."

In this year's two-week early voting period, 244,121 Nevadans voted, missing the last-minute developments and volleys between candidates.

Diwiatt Barker, 65, was one of those early voters. While he cast his ballot for Gibbons a week ago, he said if he was voting today, he would've left that race blank because of ongoing questions about why Gibbons was drinking with women he didn't know, he said.

But most of all, Barker just wanted what has been an extraordinarily negative campaign season to end.

"I'm glad it's over tomorrow. Then they could put mud back on the ground instead of all over each other," he said.

Damore said Gibbons, Porter and Heller woke up to the reality of the threats they faced and poured last-minute resources their opponents couldn't match into races they originally thought they could win without trying.

For example, the Republican National Committee reportedly sent 100 workers to Nevada to get out Republican voters on Election Day.

"This was definitely a move forward for the Democratic Party in Nevada," he said. "Democrats made good challenges up and down the ticket and made some gains. But in the end, Republicans in the rurals held their nose and voted for their party like they always do."

Review-Journal staff writers Joan Whitely, A.D. Hopkins, David McGrath Schwartz and Lisa Kim Bach contributed to this report.