I know the November congressional races are going to take a backseat to the presidential race, but I think they deserve a look. If the GOP thought 2006 was bad, they must be terrified for November. Currently the Dems could pick up at least 8 Senate seats and countless House seats.

These are the Senate seats in play:

Alaska: Republican incumbent Ted Stevens is under investigation for corruption and is being challeged by Anchorage major Mark Begich.

Colorado: The Republican incumbent promised to not run again, so we have two representatives battling it out.

Louisiana: The only Democrat currently in potential trouble.

Maine: Republican incumbent Susan Collins who is being challenged by one of the two Reps Maine has. She is fairly moderate but she did promise to only serve two terms, so that might be an issue.

Minnesota: Republican incumbent Norm Coleman is running again. He lost in 2002 slightly to Walter Mondale, who jumped in after his opponent died in a plane crash a few weeks before the election.

Mississippi: Republican Trent Lott retired in the middle of his term and was replaced by a Rep. Former Democratic governor Ronnie Musgrave is challenging him in November. Mississippi is usually a red state for presidential elections but democrats control both state chambers and several statewide offices as well.

New Hampshire: Republican John Sununu is being challenged by former governor Jeanne Shaheen, and New Hampshire has been trending more and more democrat the last few years.

New Mexico: Republican incumbent Pete Domenici is retiring due to cancer so this will be a hard faught contest between two Reps most likely.

North Carolina: Elizabeth Dole will likely be reelected, but if the Dems can find a good candidate she could be vulnerable.

Oregon: Gordon Smith is likely being challenged by the state house speaker, so this will be very close as he has a fairly low approval rating.

Virginia: John Warner decided to retire so this sets up a battle of two former governors. Democrat Mark Warner should win in a landslide.

The House seats are numerous as all members of the House go up for reelection every two years. The big story over the past few days is the special election to fill former House Speaker Dennis Hastert's seat, a republican who resigned. Unknown Democrat Bill Foster beat Republican Jim Oberweis and they will face off again in November. He is likely to defeat him again, especially if Obama is on the ticket as it is in Illinois. This is not good news for the GOP, because if an unknown democrat can win a a fairly republican district, who knows what will happen in swing districts, especially if Obama is on the ticket.

Anyone else care? Just me?

I've read that the Dems could take 60 seats in the Senate, which would be impressive.

I've definitely been following these. I'm especially looking forward to having Minnesota elect Al Franken.

Hmm...possible, but everything would have to go perfectly for them. Another scandal or resignation might do the trick.

When was the last time the Democrats controled Congress AND the White House.

The thought seemed very far-fetched a few years back. Although I guess enduring one of the most unpopular Presidents in history can do that...

Although the democrats have done a good job of organizing and fighting in the past few years, it's really the republicans who are the ones causing the democrats' gains.

I believe they conotrolled Congress during the first two years of Clinton's first term, but I'm not entirely sure about that.