Battles for Control of Congress Heat Up After Conventions

Battles for Control of Congress Heat Up After Conventions
By Bob Benenson and Greg Giroux, CQ Staff

snip//

The Democrats missed no opportunities to showcase the point men for their congressional push. The chairmen of the party’s congressional campaign committees, New York’s Charles E. Schumer of New York from the Senate and Maryland’s Chris Van Hollen on the House side, held heavily promoted news conferences and were spotlighted at convention sessions as they promoted some of the candidates with the potential to capture seats now held by the Republicans.

Singled out for attention on the Senate side were convention keynote speaker Mark Warner of Virginia, who is favored over Republican James M. Gilmore III in a race of former governors to succeed retiring five-term Republican Sen. John W. Warner ; Rep. Mark Udall , who has at least a slight edge over Republican former Rep. Bob Schaffer in the race to succeed retiring two-term Republican Sen. Wayne Allard ; his cousin, New Mexico Rep. Tom Udall , whose edge over Republican Rep. Steve Pearce in the race to succeed six-term Republican Sen. Pete V. Domenici was accented the next week when the National Republican Senatorial Committee quietly pulled $2.3 million in TV ad time it had booked to try to influence the contest; New Hampshire Democrat Jeanne Shaheen, a former governor who is in a rematch of her close 2002 loss to Republican John E. Sununu ; Rep. Tom Allen , who is challenging two-term Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins ; and Jeff Merkley, the Oregon House Speaker who is opposing two-term Republican incumbent Gordon Smith.

Van Hollen was accompanied on the convention stage by eight Democratic House contenders who were chosen to represent what Van Hollen described as 50 Democrats engaged in highly competitive House races. The group was dominated by challengers and open-seat candidates seeking to take over Republican seats.

The Republicans’ approach to the congressional elections was far more low-key. Nevada Sen. John Ensign and Oklahoma Rep. Tom Cole , the counterparts of Schumer and Van Hollen, were on Thursday’s convention schedule that led up to McCain’s acceptance speech.

But only two Republican Senate candidates had speaking slots at their convention, and both are incumbents facing competitive Democratic challenges: Norm Coleman of Minnesota, the state hosting the convention, and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who appeared in his role as Senate minority leader.

more...

http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=news-000002944356

majorities in both houses. I'm glad of it, but I still see the presidential race as the critical one.

country's best interests at heart, but will the low info voters even consider the choice? They don't have a habit of voting for their best interests.