The bad news is that Linda McMahon (wrestling empire, big money) may become Connecticut's Republican senator and Wisconsin (!) is "tilting" Republican, thanks to super PAC money. The good news is that the Senate may well remain in the hands of the Democrats, according to the latest assessment in the Times. Thanks to Todd Akin, Democrat Clare McCaskill may keep her seat; and in Maine, Olympia Snowe's Senate seat is probably going to a Dem.
What's for sure is that the political picture is less predictable than in 2010. But the kind of money that's pouring into the Obama campaign is also needed by Democratic candidates for both Senate and House, leaving the probability that Obama will once again face an intransigent, obstructionist Congress.Democrats are now strongly competitive in races for the Republican-held seats in Indiana and North Dakota, where the Republican candidates — who were expected to walk away with those races — have exhibited weakness.
“The map is bigger now than I’ve ever seen it at this point in an election,” said J. B. Poersch, a longtime Democratic Senate campaign strategist who is now with Majority PAC.
The New York Times has updated its assessment of the Senate races. Indiana, where the Republican nominee, State Treasurer Richard E. Mourdock, is competing against Representative Joe Donnelly, has turned from a safe Republican seat to one that leans Republican. Connecticut has moved from a safe Democratic seat to one that leans Democratic, and Wisconsin, which was a tossup, now leans Republican.
Republicans need a net gain of four seats to win control of the Senate, but what was once a good bet that they would do so is now a coin toss. ...NYT
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