Our final race ratings chart of the year:
| Likely D | Lean D | Tossup | Lean R | Likely R |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CO (Open) NM (Open) |
AK (Stevens) LA (Landrieu) NH (Sununu) NC (Dole) OR (Smith) |
MN (Coleman) |
GA (Chambliss) KY (McConnell) MS (Wicker) |
ME (Collins) |
Safe D:
VA (Open)
Races to Watch:
NE (Open)
NJ (Lautenberg)
OK (Inhofe)
SC (Graham)
TX (Cornyn)
We’ve come a long way since April.
To be fair not too many disappointments though. I guess a stronger nominee in MN might have made it more like OR but Franken may win anyway. The only other is really Texas where, if Noriega had been able to raise serious money, Cornyn was and is weak, weak, weak. With regard to recruitment it was a shame to miss out on Sparks in AL, Kerrey in NE (some will argue that I know), Mike Moore in MS and maybe someone stronger with the base in KY than Lunsford. All in all though I don’t think anybody can really complain.
and bump South Carolina up to likely R.