Romney Rescues GOP Battle for the Senate

[Geee]

American Thinker:

The political landscape has dramatically changed in just thirty days. Barack Obama had the momentum. His attacks on Mitt Romney were clearly taking a toll, and the president was also outspending Romney to drive the negative messages home. The assaults suggested that Romney was both unqualified and unfit to be the president, a disconnected, "rich" elitist who could not relate to the average American nor cared about them. The Obama smear campaign was working; Romney's support was waning. The advantages enjoyed by Republican Senate candidates in a number of critical contests began to suffer. The movement against Romney transferred into many Senate contests. Senate races that appeared headed for victory lost steam; Wisconsin, Connecticut, Montana, and Nevada all suffered dwindling ratings in the polls.

 

Then everything changed. On October 3, during the first presidential debate, Romney routed Obama in a startling and decisive manner. Against this backdrop, the climate within key Senate races also changed -- i.e. the declines in the fortunes of Republican candidates were halted, and the battle for Senate control again tightened. Initially, pundits and analysts of every stripe believed that Republicans held a significant advantage over Democrats. Democrats have to defend 21 seats while Republicans are exposed in just 10, and independents 2. Experts believed that control would be decided in fourteen states and at most in seventeen. Nevertheless, the predictions preceded both the Romney decline and the subsequent resurgence triggered by his debate performance. Thus, a reassessment seems warranted.