MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin - September 7, 2010 - Democrats in Congress are no longer asking themselves whether this is going to be a bad election year for them and their party. They are asking whether it is going to be a disaster.
The answer will probably be found in states such as Wisconsin, one of a growing number of spots on the map where Democrats accustomed to winning reelection with ease - including Senator Russell Feingold - are unexpectedly in trouble.
The GOP pushed deep into Democrat-held territory over the summer, to the point where the party is well within range of picking up the 39 seats it would need to take control of the House. Overall, as many as 80 House seats could be at risk, and fewer than a dozen of these are held by Republicans.
Political handicappers now say it is conceivable that the Republicans could also win the 10 seats they need to take back the Senate. Not since 1930 has the House changed hands without the Senate following suit.
"Given the races in play - six for Republicans and 13 for Democrats - a plausible case can now be made that those 10 seats are within their reach," the nonpartisan Cook Political Report wrote last week. But it predicted that the GOP's gain will fall just short of that, at seven to nine seats.
