McLaughlin Predicts - Election 1986

[Vosem]

This is from 1985, more than a year before the elections, so it makes sense that it really only vaguely resembles the end result -- they're assuming Laxalt and Mathias both run for reelection (neither did), they have Don Siegelman as Jeremiah Denton's opponent (Siegelman ended up dropping down to run for Attorney General, letting future floor-crosser Richard Shelby be the Democratic candidate), among other mistakes (they didn't anticipate a Wyche Fowler run at all, for instance). Other mentions of politicians that would be more prominent later on are also interesting (they suggest Mark Andrews was only vulnerable if Byron Dorgan ran against him -- Andrews ended up losing to the then-obscure state Tax Commissioner Kent Conrad, while Dorgan entered the Senate only six years later).