With just over two weeks to go, Republicans seem more nervous each day about John McCain’s increasingly bad poll numbers. But a look at all the major polling in ten states with contested Senate races reveals potentially worse news for the GOP: that the present 51-to-49 Democratic majority could come perilously close to a “filibuster-proof” Senate with 61 Democrat seats.
Such a scenario would result — if Barack Obama is elected — in a Senate in which liberal nominees to the Supreme Court or lower courts would be all but guaranteed confirmation. In addition, an Obama budget or costly “stimulus package” would have smooth sailing through Senate committees and the full chamber.
The math itself is alarming to Republicans. Nine of the ten Senate races considered horseraces are in Republican hands — eight by incumbents fighting for their political lives, one an open seat (the Colorado seat vacated by Republican Sen. Wayne Allard, where polls show Democrat Mark Udall opening up a lead in what was until recently a horserace with Republican Bob Schaffer). In the one race in which a Republican was thought to have a chance at defeating a Democratic senator, a Rasmussen poll shows Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu with a comfortable 54 to 41 percent lead over GOP challenger John Kennedy.
Two Republican incumbents once thought to be invincible — North Carolina’s Liddy Dole and Gordon Smith of Oregon — are now running behind Democratic state legislators in the latest surveys. Even Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell is in a battle royal for his fifth term.
If you haven’t seen results from Virginia and New Mexico, don’t keep looking if you’re a Republican. The Democratic candidates for the seats of retiring GOP Sens. John Warner and Pete Domenici have greater leads over their Republican opponents than any of those in contests listed below.
A personal note: when I heard Democratic National Chairman Howard Dean predict a net gain of seven seats for his party in Senate races, I thought he was telling “Pollyana stories” at the Christian Science Monitor breakfast.
John Gizzi has come to be known as â??the man who knows everyone in Washingtonâ? and, indeed, many of those who hold elected positions and in party leadership roles throughout the United States. With his daily access to the White House as a correspondent, Mr. Gizzi offers readers the inside scoop on whatâ??s going on in the nationâ??s capital.
He is the author of a number of popular Human Events features, such as â??Gizzi on Politicsâ? and spotlights of key political races around the country. Gizzi also is the host of â??Gizziâ??s America,â? video interviews that appear on HumanEvents.com.
Gizzi got his start at Human Events in 1979 after graduating from Fairfield University in Connecticut and then working for the Travis County (Tex.) Tax Assessor.
He has appeared on hundreds of radio and TV shows, including Fox News Channel, C-SPAN, America's Voice,The Jim Bohannon Show, Fox 5, WUSA 9, America's Radio News Network and is also a frequent contributor to the BBC -- and has appeared on France24 TV and German Radio. He is a past president of the Georgetown Kiwanis Club, past member of the St. Matthew's Cathedral's Parish Council, and secretary of the West End Friends of the Library. He is a recipient of the William A. Rusher Award for Journalistic Excellence and was named Journalist of the Year by the Conservative Political Action Conference in 2002.
John Gizzi is also a credentialed correspondent at the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. He has questioned two IMF managing directors, Dominique Strauss-Kahn and Christine LaGarde, and has become friends with international correspondents worldwide.
Johnâ??s email is JGizzi@EaglePub.Com
