The American Spectator

p> NOT SO FAST br> With polling numbers in the Maryland Senate Democrat primary now showing that relative outsider, former congressman and former head of the NAACP Kweisi Mfume is leading Rep. Ben Cardin in some polls above the margin of error, national Democrats are growing progressively pessimistic that they will make serious gains in the November elections. /p>

Mainstream media outlets have been attempting over the past few weeks to slowly let the air out of a balloon they themselves filled with their abundant hot air about Democratic momentum moving toward a potential retaking of both houses of Congress.

“We probably started that drumbeat too early and we’re losing a lot of that momentum,” says a Democratic political strategist. “You could blame a lot of things, Howard Dean, and some of our more established candidates, but I would blame the Lieberman/Lamont race and the blogosphere. Things just move too fast nowadays.”

The Connecticut Democrat Senate primary put a national spotlight on the inner-workings of the Democrat Party and they weren’t pretty. Voters saw a far-left wing of the party with remarkable sway over a mainstream majority with little interest in a fight.

“More important, in most primaries, is that ten to 15 percent of undecided voters have already vented about Iraq,” says another Democrat consultant. “The problem is, those voters wanted to express their dissatisfaction with Iraq, but they also want a solution. Pulling out isn’t the solution many of them want. They aren’t going to be voting for an anti-war candidate. I think my party has overshot its position.”

The showing of Republican Michael Steele, as well as others, such as Mike McGavick in Washington, and Tom Kean, Jr. in New Jersey, along with stabilized numbers for Sen. Rick Santorum, have Democrats in the Senate scrambling to find some good news to pass along to their donors.

p> MAJORITY SHOES