Reply #7: Control of Senate Hinges on 4 Races

[livvy]

Control of Senate Hinges on 4 Races
By: DAVID ESPO (Sat, Oct/28/2006)

RICHMOND, Va. - With designs on the White House, Republican Sen. George Allen hoped all along his 2006 Virginia re-election campaign would draw national attention. But what he probably didn't have in mind was a stumble-marred race that is so close his party recently felt obliged to pay for $1.4 million in television ads to safeguard a seat long thought safe.

Allen's attempt to hold off Democratic challenger Jim Webb is one of four races that strategists in both parties say will likely settle the overall battle for Senate control. In a reflection of the stakes, the two parties will spend more than $20 million combined on television in the campaign's final two weeks in Tennessee, Missouri, New Jersey and Virginia, a lineup that could not have been forecast even a few weeks ago.

"A year ago the focus was on the more traditionally competitive states like Pennsylvania and Ohio," Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, head of the Democratic campaign effort, said recently, referring to two races where Democrats appear likeliest to defeat Republican incumbents.

"It is a tougher (election) cycle for Republicans," agreed Sen. Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina, head of the GOP campaign arm.

>more

http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/33-10282006-733487.html