Democrats Have a Chance at 60 Senate Seats

from Taegan Goddard's Political Wire

Charlie Cook says the Senate outlook for Republicans is increasingly bleak and the Democrats goal of 60 Senate seats -- to prevent GOP filibusters -- "is no longer implausible."

"Today, holding its losses down to four seats would be manna from heaven for the GOP. Party leaders would take a five- or six-seat loss in stride, given the circumstances. A seven-seat loss would be bad but not shockingly horrible. Even an eight-seat loss is possible if Democrats draw an inside straight, as they did in 2006..."

"The bottom line is that things have gotten worse for Senate Republicans over the past few weeks, so much worse that a magnitude of losses that seemed impossible just a few months ago now seems entirely possible."

Meanwhile, Stu Rothenberg says three seats could well determine whether the Democrats "can reach that magic number: North Carolina, Minnesota and Mississippi."

For more, see CQ's Race Ratings.