Each day, it becomes more difficult to see how Republicans can
maintain the House. Democrats only need 15 seats to win control,
and with the seats of Delay, Ney and Foley almost certainly lost,
it's really more like 12 seats. On top of this, Curt Weldon, whose
seat was already considered a toss-up in his Democratic-leaning
district, is now under investigation. Even if you question
the timing of the investigation, clearly it's going to be an
uphill battle for him.
Cook Political Report has
identified two more Republican open seats as likely Democratic
pickups (Kolbe's in Arizona and Beauprez's in Colorado) and
classifies 23 additional Republican seats as toss-ups. If you write
off the seats of Delay, Ney and Foley, it means that Democrats can
gain control of Congress by winning a little more than half of the
toss-ups. If you consider the seats of Weldon, Kolbe and Beauprez
to be lost, then it means that Democrats can take over the House
even if they were only to win 9 of those 23 remaining toss-up
seats. Sure, anything can happen in the next few weeks, but
mathematically speaking, things are looking pretty bleak for
Republicans.