Some key Senate races remain tight as polls open

JOHN HOCKENBERRY:

But now, Todd Zwillich joins us from Capitol News Connection. He’s our Congress watcher. Todd, thanks for being with us.

TODD ZWILLICH:

Hey, John.

JOHN HOCKENBERRY:

All right, you did the House last time we spoke. Let’s talk Senate.

TODD ZWILLICH:

All right. Well, let’s start with the ones that are gone, at least from the perspective of the GOP. We’re talking about Republican seats that are flipping – Colorado, New Mexico and Virginia, very most likely gone. You talked about the two Udalls running in those two states.

And then you flipped. You go to Oregon, of course, which is Gordon Smith, which is their cousin. You know, they used to have a saying, Vote for a Udall near you, ’cause of the legendary Congressman Morris K. Udall.

[LAUGHTER]

ADAORA UDOJI:

Yeah, that’s good, that’s good.

TODD ZWILLICH:

So – vote for a Udall near you. All right.

So Oregon is a tight race, those other three are not. You have Minnesota you just talked about and North Carolina. But the really, really interesting Liddy Dole, the Liddy Dole-Kay Hagen race is extremely interesting in North Carolina.

Then there’s the really, really interesting ones, Kentucky – Republican leader Mitch McConnell running for re-election in a really tight race, and this is interesting on so many levels.

One, the Republican leader of the Senate is in danger of losing his seat and Democrats want that one badly. Part of the reason why is ?cause when Tom Daschle lost a few years ago, Mitch McConnell went to his state and campaigned against him, and that is a senatorial no-no, and he did it.

JOHN HOCKENBERRY:

So there’s some party revenge going on there.

[BOTH AT ONCE]

TODD ZWILLICH:

Absolutely, absolutely. There’s party revenge going on against Saxby Chambliss down there in Georg ? in Georgia, Adaora, because of the race six years ago – ran against incumbent Max Cleland and ran some ads ?

[BOTH AT ONCE]

ADAORA UDOJI:

An ugly race.

TODD ZWILLICH:

Ugly race, ran some ads comparing Max Cleland to terrorists and putting him on the screen with Os ? with Osama bin Laden. Max Cleland, of course, left three limbs in Vietnam. So Democrats ? [LAUGHS]

[BOTH SPEAK AT ONCE]

ADAORA UDOJI:

Uh, Todd ?

TODD ZWILLICH:

Yeah.

ADAORA UDOJI:

? do you have any sense that the Republicans across the board have been ?

[SOUND CUT]

JOHN HOCKENBERRY:

Any, any ?

TODD ZWILLICH:

I’m sorry Adaora, I, I lost you for one second. Repeat that.

JOHN HOCKENBERRY:

No, go ahead.

ADAORA UDOJI:

I was just going to say? any sense at all that Republicans across the board have been a bit surprised by these Democratic get-out-the-votes efforts that we’ve been hearing of?

TODD ZWILLICH:

I don’t know if ?surprised? is the right word because this stuff has been in the works for so long. Maybe they were surprised by it eight months ? you know, eight months ago, six months ago. But these ? with these professionals at this stage of the race, there aren’t really a whole lot of surprises.

I think the Republicans running ground games in places like Virginia and Colorado realized a while ago that they were gonna have some pretty significant turnout issues.

JOHN HOCKENBERRY:

And I think ?

[BOTH AT ONCE]

TODD ZWILLICH:

Yeah.

JOHN HOCKENBERRY:

? it is fair to say though, from what Adaora was asking that some, some of the Republican ground games are going to be surprised by the robustness of the Democratic ground games in states they’re not used to being contested, you know what I mean?

TODD ZWILLICH:

Well, that’s ?

JOHN HOCKENBERRY:

Like Georgia, like Virginia. as you were saying.

TODD ZWILLICH:

Yeah, well, and ? and that’s what you’re ?you know, who, whoever would have thought that Kentucky with Mitch McConnell and even Georgia right with Saxby Chambliss would be competitive races. I, I think Virginia ?

[BOTH AT ONCE]

JOHN HOCKENBERRY:

Well, that’s why this is a great elect ?that’s why this is a 2008, that’s why it’s the fabulous race. Todd Zwillich, Capitol News Connection. Thanks for joining us from Washington.

TODD ZWILLICH:

Sure, sure.

JOHN HOCKENBERRY:

Handicapping the Senate.