Lincoln Diaz-Balart's margin of victory may have bolstered his clout, along with inoculating him against another challenger. His Democratic opponent, former Hialeah mayor Raul Martinez, came only a point closer to defeating the Republican than an unknown, little-financed candidate had in 2006 -- despite a massive infusion of cash and support from national Democrats. The final tally: 58 percent to 42 percent.

''A strong signal was sent, that what I support and stand for has great backing in our community,'' Lincoln Diaz-Balart said.

Martinez's campaign manager, Jeff Garcia, however, said the challenges allowed the Democrats to raise the possibility of a new approach to Cuba. He noted that exit polls suggested that Obama won a greater share of the Cuban-American vote in Miami-Dade than John Kerry did in 2004.

''We see it as a huge victory for advancing the cause,'' Garcia said. ``We're going to be up [in Washington] trying to make it happen . . . Even though the Diaz-Balarts are the members of Congress, [the Democrats] may still carry the issue.''

RIGHTING THE PARTY

Political observers say they expect both brothers to play a key role in Republican efforts to rebound -- particularly when it comes to attracting Hispanics, whom pollsters believed were turned off the GOP by a divisive immigration debate.

''If the Republicans ever want to get back into the majority, they're going to have to listen to these guys,'' said Mauricio Claver-Carone, a Washington lobbyist who works on the embargo. ``People are going to be looking to their leadership on issues like immigration to bring Hispanics back.''

Lincoln Diaz-Balart, who said he hopes to play a key role in efforts to rewrite U.S. immigration laws, said Democratic House leaders, too, have been reluctant to bring up the contentious debate because many conservative Democrats are opposed to providing illegal immigrants with a path to legalization.

''At some point, they're going to have to do something for the Hispanic community that helped get them elected,'' Diaz-Balart said of the Democrats. He plans to reintroduce the DREAM Act, a bill that would permit thousands of undocumented immigrant students to stay in the United States.

''A lot of this work is going to require a bipartisan coalition,'' he said.

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