In Crucial South, Democrats Edge Closer to Republican Incumbents

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NOVEMBER 1, 2008

In Crucial South, Democrats Edge Closer to Republican Incumbents
By ALEX ROTH, COREY DADE and BETSY MCKAY
WSJ

ATLANTA -- Across the south, Democratic challengers for the U.S. Senate are making inroads against Republican incumbents, raising the chances that the party can take a filibuster-proof, 60-seat supermajority. Not long ago, most of these incumbents appeared almost certain to hold their seats.

Some polls showed Georgia Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss, who led by 17 points in September, in a virtual dead heat with Democratic challenger Jim Martin going into the final weekend. In North Carolina, Democratic state Sen. Kay Hagan is now running ahead of Republican incumbent Sen. Elizabeth Dole by 9 points, according to an Oct. 31 CNN poll.

Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell leads Democrat Bruce Lunsford, a health-care entrepreneur, by single digits in Kentucky, according to polls this week. And in Mississippi, polls in recent weeks showed former Democratic Gov. Ronnie Musgrove within a few points of Republican Sen. Roger Wicker, though more recent surveys now show Sen. Wicker edging further ahead.

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A Senate supermajority has major ramifications, regardless of which candidate wins the White House. With control of 60 votes in the Senate for the first time since the late 1970s, Democrats could aggressively push through the agenda of Sen. Barack Obama, should he win the presidency. If Republican Sen. John McCain wins, a supermajority could use procedural rules to trip up the administration's legislative agenda. Republicans have tried to make the prospect of a Democratic supermajority a hot issue in races around the country. The Republican Senatorial Committee released a Halloween-themed online ad on Friday with the heading: "60 Seats: Now that's Scary."

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