Majority Leader Reid?

Breathing a sigh of relief that the House is suddenly looking safer, is the Senate slipping away?

I never, ever, once counted out Harold Ford, Jr. in Tennessee. That guy is the best candidate the Democrats have. I read the other day that his opponent, Mr. Corker, is flailing. Add "Felix Allen Macaca, Jr.'s" troubles in increasingly purple Virginia, and I think we will have to bank our hopes on Tom Kean, Jr. (no political dynasties in this country, no).

The NYTimes may be wishful thinking, but they see New Hope for Democrats in Bid for Senate

In Virginia, a state that few expected to be seriously competitive, Senator George Allen looks newly vulnerable after a series of controversies over charges of racial insensitivity, strategists in both parties say. In Tennessee, another Southern state long considered safely red, Representative Harold E. Ford Jr., a Democrat, has run a strong campaign that has kept that state in contention.

Elsewhere, Democratic challengers are either ahead or close in races in five states held by the Republicans: Missouri, Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island, according to political strategists in both parties and the latest polls.

All of these races could shift direction in a matter of days, let alone six weeks, and Republicans are counting on their superior finances and large blocks of television advertising to hold the line. Democrats also have their own vulnerabilities, particularly in New Jersey, where Senator Robert Menendez is in a tight race with his Republican challenger, State Senator Thomas H. Kean Jr., according to recent polls.

Perhaps the good people of the Garden State will not elect a corrupt pol because he has a 'D' after his name, but history portends poorly. The states in play are pretty blue or feature a pretty weak GOP candidate.

How about Minnesota? Can Sugarchuck pull one out for us? I sure like Steele in Maryland as well, though he must swim against a very blue tide.

Politics Posted by jk at September 28, 2006 10:28 AM