Senate Pickups?

[MarkWarner08]

Hmm... I was forgetting about Alaska. Might be too early to say anything there, though, what with primaries and no major Democratic candidate (read: Begich) actually declared yet.

Begich is waiting till the filing deadline to announce his run. My source in Alaska (a friend at the AK Democratic Party) says the Mayor is concerned Stevens will drop out at the last minute, only to be replaced by the popular reformer Governor Sarah Pallin.

[MarkWarner08]

It makes no sense Palin would leave Juneau for Washington.

The same was said of Frank's daughter...

[MarkWarner08]

Should be Democrats +5:

NH, VA, MN, NM, and CO, holding LA

I doubt Coleman will lose to the clown or the trial lawyer. NH, VA, and CO are pretty much in the bag, barring a Hillary collapse as the nominee or gaffes by any of the D nominees. NM is probably leans Democratic, but top-ticket atmospherics could change that. I agree with on LA. Landrieu starts off as the favorite, but this is another red state where, once again, Hillary could push the Democratic nominee below 50%.

Oregon and Alaska are two other states to watch closely. If Merkley and Begich are the D nominees in these two states, it's quite possible the Democrats could pick up another two seats here. If the Democrats pull of a second straight near-sweep of close Senate races, the new Senate will be 56-42-2 in favor of Democrats.  Chuck Schumer as majority leader could easily nab the 2-3 Republicans needed to  pass major reforms.

[MarkWarner08]

Alaska is the sleeper of the cycle. Here's how the Democrats can pick-up a U.S Senate seat in Alaska: 1a. Nominate Mike Gravel. 1b. Nominate Anyone But Hillary and run Bill Ritter as the Vp. 2. Convince Mark Begich to run. 3. Pray that Uncle Ted wins the GOP primary. 4. Pray that the GOP nominee is Mike Huckabee (let's see how well a theocrat performs with libertarian-leaning voters!). 5. Hope VECO becomes an even bigger scandal.

If everything falls into place, a Democrat not named Tony Knowles may finally win something important in Alaska.