Reply #1: As is the case every two years

[lapfog_1]

All of the seats in the House are up for grabs... and 1/3 (give or take) of the Senate runs for re-election.

The interesting question is how many competitive races are there in the nation this year. I haven't heard numbers but my recollection is that Dems could pick up 3 to 4 in the Senate (say goodbye to Lieberman as a power broker!) and possibly a 10 to 20+ gain in the House. Depends on if we settle on a nominee, depends on the amount of money raised for races (right now, a lot of Dems are donating to the Presidential campaigns of Clinton and Obama, so not a lot left over). And it depends on the "coattails" of our Presidential nominee. I think it's too early to tell right at the moment... and that worries me a bit.