2006 in the Books

The 2006 Senate races are in the books.

8 new Democratic Senators (Brown - Ohio; Cardin - Maryland; Casey - Pennsylvania; Klobuchar - Minnesota; McCaskill - Missouri; Tester - Montana; Webb - Virgina; Whitehouse - Rhode Island) plus Vermont's Bernie Sanders caucusing with the Democrats. 1 new Republican (Corker - Tennessee).

With both Sanders and Joe Lieberman caucusing with the Democrats, the Dems hold a slim 51-49 advantage. And we look ahead to 2008.

kos of Daily Kos offers his outlook on the 2008 races. Chris Bowers of MyDD offers his take. Needless to say, both like how the geography and politics shape up for Democrats. I can't say I disagree. Swing State Project has started a 2008 Senate race tracker.

The New York Times offers this summary of 2008 Senate races, based on CQPolitics.com's handy chart looking at each Senator's last election percentage of the vote, their state's 2004 Presidential vote, and each Senator's cash on hand.

Finally, as Bowers cites in his aforementioned 2008 outlook, Survey USA has come out with new Senator approval ratings as of October 24, 2006. Bowers culls out the Senators up for re-election in 2008:

• Lautenberg, D-NJ: 39%--51% (approve %--disapprove %)
  
• Inhofe, R-OK: 40%--49%
  
• Allard, R-CO: 42%--46%
  
• Cornyn, R-TX: 40%--43%
  
• Alexander, R-TN: 46%--42%
  
• Coleman, R-MN: 49%--44%
  
• Roberts, R-KS: 47%--42%
  
• Levin, D-MI: 48%--42%
  
• Chambliss, R-GA: 47%--40%
  
• Harkin, D-IA: 51%-44%
  
• Graham, R-SC: 50%--40%
  
• Landrieu, D-LA: 53%--43%
  
• Smith, R-OR: 50%--38%
  
• Sununu, R-NH: 52%--40%
  
• McConnell, R-KY: 52%--40%
  
• Durbin, D-IL: 51%--38%
  
• Kerry, D-MA: 55%--40%
  
• Sessions, R-AL: 54%--35%
  
• Dole, R-NC: 56%--36%
  
• Biden, D-DE: 58%--38%
  
• Pryor, D-AR: 58%--33%
  
• Enzi, R-WY: 59%--32%
  
• Hagel, R-NE: 60%--32%
  
• Domenici, R-NM: 61%--30%
  
• Warner, R-VA: 61%--30%
  
• Baucus, D-MT: 61%--30%
  
• Stevens, R-AK: 63%--32%
  
• Cochran, R-MS: 64%--31%
  
• Craig, R-ID: 62%--38%
  
• Rockerfeller, D-WV: 65%--30%
  
• Reed, D-RI: 64%--26%
  
• Johnson, D-SD: 70%--24%
  
• Collins, R-ME: 72%--24%

Six of the seven (and eleven of the fifteen) lowest net job approvals are from Republican Senators.