Democrats Strengthen Chances For Senate: Va., Mo. and Tenn. May Tip ..

.. the Balance

By Charles Babington and Dan Balz
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, October 22, 2006; Page A01

Democrats in the past two weeks have significantly improved their chances of taking control of the Senate, according to polls and independent analysts, with the battle now focused intensely on three states in the Midwest and upper South: Missouri, Tennessee and Virginia.

Democratic challengers are in strong positions against GOP incumbents in four states -- Pennsylvania, Montana, Ohio and Rhode Island -- a trend that leaves the party looking for just two more seats to reclaim the majority. The main targets are states where Republicans in recent years have dominated but this year find themselves in hotly competitive races ..

"The Democrats are going to gain somewhere between four and seven seats," said Stuart Rothenberg, author of an independent newsletter that tracks campaigns nationwide. Of the battlegrounds of Tennessee, Virginia and Missouri, he said, "They need two of the three, and they have a pretty good chance" of winning them.

In four other states, Republican incumbents -- Conrad Burns (Mont.), Lincoln D. Chafee (R.I.), Mike DeWine (Ohio) and Rick Santorum (Pa.) -- are all running behind in the latest public polls. Assuming that Democrats hold New Jersey, where Sen. Robert Menendez (D) hopes the state's traditional Democratic tilt will carry him past hard-charging Tom Kean Jr. (R), they would need to grab two more Republican-held seats to gain a 51 to 49 edge. (An evenly split Senate would remain under GOP control because Vice President Cheney would break the tie) ..

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/21/AR2006102101047.html

is in the lead, slightly more than the Margin of Error.

This was immediately followed by the paid political ad from the republican Senate Campaign Committee showing people saying (about Ford) that "sure, I have too many guns", "I'll have to pay taxes after I die", "Everybody gets money from porn producers", and the Playboy Bunny saying "call me, Harold".

Supposedly Corker told them to stop the ads, but they haven't stopped them.

Or was it a real one?

There is still too much time for Karl Rove to get his fat fingers all over this.

we wouldn't win back the house and senate....

One of the participants from the Kansas City, Missouri audience lamented that his Senator was pedal to the metal on free trade, and would support a bad free trade agreement over no agreement at all. I believe the country in question was Thailand. Dobbs asked just who this particular senator was, and the man replied "Jim Talent". This was a HUGE black eye for an incumbent already on the ropes! Hopefully the local viewership was a large one.