US Senate Race Chart: DEM-56, REP-39, TCTC-5
Posted Oct 28, 2008 at 9:43 AM
Maurice Berger, Political Director, PollTrack
With US Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) now convicted on seven ethics counts in Alaska, PollTrack tentatively moves the state into the leaning Democrat column. It is unclear as of this writing how the Republican party will handle this setback. As has been noted before, it may be difficult for the Democrat's to meet their expressed goal of achieving a 60 seat majority-- the number needed to end a filibuster and close to the 2/3 required to override a presidential veto. To do so, the Democrats would have to pick Senate seats in some of the reddest states on the map, including Georgia, Kentucky, and Mississippi. But with Alaska possibly in the Democrats hands, one more wavering--and traditionally red state--may now be out of play for the Republicans. See chart below:
US Senate Race Chart: 28 October 2008
Solid Democrat: Arkanas: Pryor; Delaware: Biden; Illinois: Durbin; Iowa: Harkin; Massachusetts: Kerry; Michigan: Levin; Montana: Baucus; New Jersey: Lautenberg; Rhode Island: Reed, West Virginia: Rockefeller; Virginia: Warner (d) vs Gilmore (r) (VA)
Likely Democrat: South Dakota: Johnson (SD)
Lean Democrat: Louisiana: Landrieu (LA); Colorado: Udall (d) vs Schaffer (r) (CO); New Mexico: Udall (d) vs Pierce (r) (NM); New Hampshire: Sununu (r) vs Shaheen (d); Alaska: Stevens (r) vs Begich (d)
Too Close To Call (with PollTrack poll averages)
Georgia: Chambliss (r) 46.0% vs Martin (d) 43.8%
Minnesota: Coleman (r) 37.0% vs Franken (d) 37.7% vs Barkley (i) 17.3%
Mississippi (special): Wicker (r) 48.0% vs Musgrove (d) 45.3%
North Carolina: Dole (r) 44.3% vs Hagan (d) 46.3%
Oregon: Smith (r) 41.0% vs Merkley (d) 44.0%
Lean Republican: Kentucky: McConnell
Likely Republican: Maine: Collins (ME), Nebraska: Yohanns vs Kleeb (d); Oklahoma: Inhofe (OK)
Solid Republican: Alabama: Sessions ; Idaho: Lish (r) vs LaRocco (d) (ID), Kansas: Roberts (KS), Mississippi: Cochran (regular); South Carolina: Graham Tennessee: Alexander ; Texas: Cornyn; Wyoming (regular): Enzi; Wyoming (special): Barrasso (r) vs Carter (d)
Balance Of Power Tally: DEM-56, REP-39, TCTC-5
Current Balance: DEM-51 (49-D, 2-I) to REP-49
BOLD: Leading In Race
Italics: Incumbent
