Battle for Congress roundup

Democrats need six House pickups to take control of the chamber. Four of those seats come from Iowa, while Georgia could provide another four.

Of course, those pickups would be offset by losses in other states, especially PA, but it does demonstrate that Iowa and Georgia will play a huge rule in determining the outcome of the House.

Business Week takes a look at some of the most contested House races.

On the Senate side, the latest poll has the SD race in a dead heat, 40-40 percent. While the article has no details on the poll or its methodology, it still confirms all polls conducted in the race. This one will come down to voter turnout, as the polls should remain dead even up to election day.

Some additional good news, and then some bad news.

On the good news front, the GOP appears to be surrendering hope of picking up the Louisiana Senate seat from Mary Landrieu. Hoping to take advantage of the "open primary" format of Louisiana elections, Republicans hoped to flood the field with candidates, pushing Landrieu below 50 percent and forcing a runoff election in late 2002. However, those plans fell apart when the state's highest-profile Republican, Gov. Mike Foster, declined to join the race. The gaggle of Republicans on the ballot have neither the name ID, nor the political acumen to offer much competition. This race has been sealed and delivered.

On the other hand, MO Democrat Sen. Jean Carnahan is in the fight of her life, statistically tied with GOP challenger Jim Talent. The latest Zogby poll paints a more pessimistic image than a recent poll that had Carnahan 8 points ahead. Zogby says:

What makes this particularly stunning is that we're capturing a Democratic-leaning mood in the rest of the country. She's got to do something now to stop the slide.

GOP Senate hopes are almost exclusively tied to the Midwest. In addition to Missouri, Dem incumbents are feeling heat in aforementioned South Dakota, as well as Minnesota and Iowa.

Business Week also has a scorecard of the tightest races around the nation.

And for a good ranking of the Senate races, visit MyDD's Senate 2002 Analysis Page. MyDD also maintains a Governor 2002 Analysis page.

Posted August 27, 2002 07:50 AM | Comments (3)