A new poll shows TN Senate candidate Clement (D) trailing his GOP opponent 50-40 with one week left in the election. This is an improvement over the same poll a month ago, when Clement trailed by 19 percent, but the numbers are still outside the margin of error.

Clement has a lot of ground to make up if he's going to win this one. And according to the poll, most Tennessee voters rate national security as their number one concern, making Clement's job that much more difficult.

Clement's camp claim their internals show Lamar Alexander with a 4-6 percent lead, a claim I find hard to believe -- campaigns usually leak or release any internals that show good news for the candidate, something I don't believe Clement's campaign has done. But, on the other hand, GOP money is flowing into the state, and Bush has another campaign visit planned -- both indicating the GOP thinks the race is closer than 10 points.

And ultimately, even if Alexander wins, the GOP had to waste valuable resources and the president's time on a state that should've been a safe Republican seat. So even by losing the Dems will win.