Both parties expect Democratic Senate pickups

Democrats were optimistic that the only two Democratic senators who will lose their Senate seats as a result of the national elections will be Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

Polls were open before daybreak in about a dozen Eastern seaboard states. Long lines appeared in many places where polls opened at 6 a.m. EST, and New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine was seen reading a newspaper while waiting to vote at his Hoboken precinct.

Senate Democrats now have a tenuous 51-49 majority, and only thanks to the support of two independents. But a slumping economy, an unpopular war and voter fatigue after eight years of President Bush could help them bolster that majority, building on the six seats they added in 2006.

Yet even bringing their numbers to close to 60 would enable Democrats to exercise far more control than they have now, since some Republicans probably would join them in efforts to break Senate logjams on many bills and judicial appointments.

The Democrats‘ top prospects for pickups were those of three retiring GOP senators in Virginia, Colorado and New Mexico.

The three Democrats were comfortably ahead in pre-election polls.

One route to 60 for Democrats was to win these five states on top of Virginia, Colorado and New Mexico, plus pick up at least one of three other closely contested races in Georgia, Kentucky and Mississippi. And not lose any Democratic seats.

In one of the most closely watched races, Alaska‘s Stevens, at 84, the longest serving Republican in Senate history, sought re-election despite calls from GOP leaders to resign after he was convicted last week of seven counts of lying on Senate financial disclosure forms. He was locked in a tight contest with Democrat Mark Begich, the mayor of Anchorage.

Underscoring the closeness of the race, Coleman embarked on an all-night bus tour with overnight stops in St. Cloud, Brainerd, North Branch, and Forest Lake before voting at 9 a.m. CST at the Linwood Recreation Center in St. Paul.

Democrats also took sharp aim at Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, challenged by Democratic businessman Bruce Lunsford in a close and costly race in Kentucky. In North Carolina, a southern state into which the Obama poured heavy resources, Dole, the incumbent, was battling an aggressive challenge by Democratic newcomer Kay Hagan.

Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., head of the party‘s senatorial campaign committee, acknowledged ahead of the voting that "Democrats are poised to pick up some seats." His Democratic counterpart, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., predicted "a whole lot of seats" for Democrats, but said reaching a 60-vote majority was unlikely.



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