[Galactic Overlord-In-Chief]

I doubt anyone on television is going to project the Republicans at 55 or higher in the Senate, not that I would expect them to. In 1980 few thought the Republicans would take the Senate, and in 1994 it was not widely thought the Republicans would take the House. The point is we don't know how these races are going to gel once the campaign starts in earnest. We have the 5 south races, but we also have the possiblity for hot races in South Dakota, Nevada, Washington, Wisconsin and California.

If the GOP gets 55 or more, I doubt many will be expecting it.

[Pubbie]

Yes - most TV political analysts are very loathe to predict a change in the status quo in Washington. They like to hedge their bets - though I will check out Brits panel when they replay it at midnight.

"If the GOP gets 55 or more, I doubt many will be expecting it."

Another thing to remember is that we will probably get Jeffords and Ben Nelson to switch to the GOP if we get 55 or more Senate seats.

Jeffords was toying with the idea of switching back after the GOP romp in 2002.

So we could be looking at a GOP 57 seat majority which will make things much easier for Dubya to get his agenda through.