September 2, 2010
The Cook Political Report's current outlook is for a Republican net gain of at least 35 seats. A turnover of 39 seats would tip majority status into Republican hands. At this point, only 209 House seats are Solid, Likely or Lean Democratic, while 181 seats are Solid, Likely or Lean Republican, and 45 seats are in the Toss Up column.
September 2, 2010
The Cook Political Report's current outlook is for a 7 to 9 seat net gain for Republicans. Currently there are 57 Democrats, two independents that caucus with Democrats, and 41 Republican Senators.
September 2, 2010
The Cook Political Report's current outlook is for a 6 to 8 seat net gain for Republicans. Currently there are 26 Democratic and 24 Republican Governors.
September 2, 2010
Senior Editor Jennifer Duffy assesses the current political environment and its impact of the most competitive Senate race: At some point in every election cycle, the outlook for the Senate begins to look more like a mathematical equation and less like a collection of individual races. With 61 days to go before the election, we’ve now hit that point. The math equation for the Senate is divided into two parts; the macro political environment, and the 37 races on the ballot this year. The macro political landscape strongly favors Republicans and it is not likely that it will change much between now and November. As a result, a look at the 37 Senate races on the ballot shows some deterioration for Democrats in some of the 19 seats they are defending, while Republicans’ prospects have stayed the same or improved slightly in their most competitive seats. As such, it is now likely that Republicans will score a net gain of between seven and nine seats. While there is a plausible argument for how Republicans could net the 10 seats they need to win the majority, it remains an unlikely scenario today.
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September 2, 2010
From House Editor David Wasserman: As the “macro” data for House Democrats continues to look very bleak, we are beginning to see the cracks in Democrats’ House picture expand at the “micro” level. As we gather more individual race-level polling data, we see the once-sunny fortunes of plenty of Democratic incumbents catching up with the dark reality of the overall environment.
This is an environment in which any Democratic laxity or misstep can prove fatal and even underfunded or flawed Republicans can be highly competitive. Some Democrats who took early precautions and have taken aggressive action, such as long-term Reps. Ike Skelton (MO-04) and Rick Boucher (VA-09), are polling well right now in very red districts. For others who haven’t had as much time to build strong relationships with their districts, however, the environmental advantages of 2006 and 2008 have vanished.
Based on the data we are seeing, five more Democrats are joining the Lean Democratic column and five more are joining the Toss Up column.
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September 2, 2010
Senior Editor Jennifer Duffy assesses the race: Republican Gov. Jan Brewer started this cycle as perhaps the most vulnerable incumbent Governor in the country. Over the course of the last four months, Brewer managed to reverse her political fortunes, and is now a clear favorite in November, despite facing a very solid opponent in Attorney General Terry Goddard.
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August 26, 2010
Today, by our count, there are a whopping 32 Democratic incumbents who have trailed GOP challengers in at least one public or private poll. At this point in 2006, there were only 11 Republican incumbents who trailed in at least one public or private poll, yet 22 went on to lose. It happens every time there is a wave: as challengers get better known and voters start to zero in on their choices, the lion’s share of those undecided falls to the surging party.
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August 26, 2010
Senior Editor Jennifer Duffy assesses the open-seat contest: For a state that is as Republican as Kansas seems to be, the GOP doesn’t necessarily have a lock on the Governor’s office. Over the past 50 years, five of the state’s nine Governors have been Democrats, including the last two. However, there seems to be little doubt that the next Governor will be a Republican.
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The Cook Political Report is "... a newsletter that both parties regard as authoritative."
—The New York Times
"The bible of the political community."
—Bob Schieffer, host of CBS News "Face the Nation"
Cook is "perhaps the best non-partisan tracker of Congressional races."
—David Broder, The Washington Post
Cook is "the Picasso of election analysis."
—Al Hunt, The Wall Street Journal
August 18, 2010
Just over a year ago, a Democratic congressional leadership staffer who had sat in on a number of closed-door meetings between President Obama and Democratic members of Congress told me something to the effect of, "I know this isn't true and sounds naïve, but listening to the president in these meetings, you'd think he really doesn't care if he gets re-elected or not."
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In a new academic paper, Dr. James E. Campbell, Chairman of the
Political Science Department at the State University of New York-
Buffalo has analyzed The Cook Political Report's pre-Labor Day House
ratings going back to the Report's founding in 1984.
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