With Republicans poised to take back the House of Representatives tomorrow the U.S. Senate, thought by many to be out of reach for the Republicans in this cycle, may be in play. The two key races that could tell the story are in West Virginia and Washington State. Senator Patty Murray is locked in a dead heat with Dino Rossi in Washington, and the latest surveys have Rossi inching ahead slightly. Like many of the campaigns it has been expensive and nasty. With all of the political chatter about “wave” elections a statistical dead heat in polling has to be considered to be advantage Republican. I give the edge here to Rossi. Rasmussen has Rossi with a one point edge.

In West Virginia Democratic Governor Joe Manchin, with an approval rating of 70%, is beginning to create some distance between him and John Raese, the Republican. Manchin leads in the latest Public Policy survey by 5 points. With all of his favorability Manchin has still struggled to stay ahead of a pretty poor Republican candidate. If Manchin goes down it will be a very long night for the Dems. In this race I believe Joe Manchin holds on for the win. Politico has listed the “Big Ten” Senate races, and we will list those in a separate post.