Tennessee ad ignites internal GOP squabbling

New headache as Corker struggles
The controversy comes at a bad time for Corker, who is struggling to hold on to what had been considered a safe Republican seat in a state that hasn’t sent a Democrat to the Senate in 18 years. But the new MSNBC/McClatchy poll released Tuesday shows the race as a virtual tie, with Corker’s 45 percent-to-43 percent lead falling within the statistical margin of error.

Corker’s lackluster campaign has vaulted Tennessee to the top of the list of too-close-to-call races that both parties believe could tip the balance in the Senate, along with vise-tight races in Virginia and Tennessee, where Democratic challengers are neck-and-neck with Republican incumbents.

Mehlman predicted Tuesday that the Republicans would hold onto both houses of Congress, but Sen. Elizabeth Dole, chairwoman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, acknowledged that her party was in a fight for its life.

“It's a very tough cycle,” Dole said on MSNBC-TV. “You know the midterm is always tougher when a president has been re-elected — tradition, history shows you it makes it even tougher.

“So we’ve known for well over a year ... that this was going to be a very tough, tough cycle — maybe the toughest in 20 years,” Dole added, saying she thought the party would just pull through in the end.

Democrats cautiously optimistic
Democratic campaign leaders were less willing to predict outright victory, but they said on MSNBC that the picture was looking good for them.

“I think we have a good shot in a lot of states that formerly voted for the president and his party,” said Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

“I think people want to change, particularly, interestingly enough, in the more traditional states — the rural states,” he added. “I think we’ve got a great shot in Missouri, Tennessee and Virginia, to be honest with you. I think we can win all three of those.”

Rep. Christopher van Hollen, D-Md., co-chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, likewise refused to go out on a limb, but he said all the trends were favorable. Traditionally, he said, races tend to shake out in the last few weeks of the campaign, but this year, races in reliably Republican districts are falling one by one into the undecided column as Election Day approaches — 58 of them now, by his count.

“I’d rather be holding the hand that the Democrats have right now than the Republicans,” van Hollen said.

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