NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) – New England’s Democrats are suddenly in a position of power and influence after Tuesday’s midterm election, signaling a reversal of fortune for a region out in the cold for years.

Democrats who dominate New England but were the minority party for 12 years are now well-positioned to bring home more bacon on everything from transportation to military contracts after taking control of the House, said Darrell West, a political science professor at Brown University in Rhode Island.

“It could be an economic windfall for the entire region,” West said.

Democrats with seniority from New England are now poised to take influential positions.

In Maine, Rep. Tom Allen, who has toiled for five terms under GOP leadership, said he looks forward to having a hand in shaping legislation, particularly on health care. Democratic leaders, he said, will take a different approach than their predecessors.

“All of those people who don’t have health care insurance or pay too much for insurance will get our attention. I’m not saying solutions in this area are easy, but we’ll try,” he said.

Maine Rep. Michael Michaud was ranking Democrat on the Veterans Affairs health subcommittee, and he said he intends to put in a bid for the chairmanship of the committee, which will be an open seat.

“I feel strongly that we’ve got to take care of our veterans and give them adequate health care,” said Michaud.

, whose large district encompasses rural northern Maine. “And they have to have access to that health care.”

“Nowhere is it more clear that there will be a shift than in New England,” said Rep. Marty Meehan, a Massachusetts Democrat who is hoping to become chairman of a subcommittee responsible for about $1.5 billion a year in military research and development in his state. “I think it certainly puts New England in a much stronger position.”

Rep. Barney Frank, another Massachusetts Democrat, will likely become chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, which oversees the banking, insurance and housing industries, spokesman Steve Adamske said. Frank is expected to focus on affordable housing and consumer protection.

In Connecticut, Rep. John Larson is hoping to become chairman of the Democratic caucus after easily winning his fifth term.

“It gives him a seat at the table as we set the national agenda,” said Brian Mahar, Larson’s communications director.

Larson will push the development of fuel cells, an important industry in Connecticut.

In Rhode Island, Rep. Patrick Kennedy coasted to re-election six months after he crashed his car outside the U.S. Capitol and then sought treatment for an addiction to prescription pain medication. By winning his seventh term, Kennedy increases his seniority on the powerful Appropriations Committee.

“I think seniority on the Appropriations Committee has a direct correlation to the influence you have on priority projects for your constituents,” said Robin Costello, Kennedy’s press secretary. “It gives you a stronger voice.”

Others are less certain how much difference the election will make to New England. The defeat of U.S. Rep. Nancy Johnson means Connecticut lost a 12-term Republican whose seniority translated into influence. She will be replaced by Democrat Chris Murphy, a 33-year-old state senator with no national political experience.

“I think in a lot of ways the House is going to be just as polarized with the Democrats in control,” said Scott McLean, chairman of the political science department at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut. “The new people are just not going to be as high up the totem pole going in.”

Beyond the bacon, the election brings a growing number of New England war critics to influential positions.

Larson favors withdrawing troops from Iraq. In New Hampshire, voters ousted GOP incumbents in both House races in a campaign in which Democrats tied Republicans to President Bush and the war.

Frank, from Massachusetts, ranks as one of the House’s most reliable liberal voices and fiercest critics of the Bush administration after more than two decades in Congress.

“I think war opponents are going to be emboldened,” West said.

Health care is another priority.

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Associated Press Writer David Sharp in Portland, Me., contributed to this story.

AP-ES-11-08-06 1628EST

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