Sunday shows: Race to control Senate

The battle over the Senate majority has been in constant flux this
campaign season and top lawmakers and public officials will give their
view on how the upper chamber will take form on this Sunday’s talk
shows.

Election handicappers and some GOP senators, such as John McCain
(Ariz.), earlier this month declared that the Republicans had a solid
chance of taking control of the Senate.

{mosads}That outlook, in
addition to predictions that the GOP could win back the House, gave a
boost to Republicans looking to put the skids on President Obama’s
agenda.

But the results of two key GOP primaries put Republican hopes of taking the Senate in doubt.

Once
assumed to be a prime pick-up opportunity for the GOP, Democrats have
taken the upper hand in the Delaware Senate race after Tea Party-backed
candidate Christine O’Donnell won a stunning victory in her primary
against centrist GOP Rep. Mike Castle.

O’Donnell is now polling behind Democratic nominee Chris Coons.

Joe
Miller of Alaska, another Tea Party-backed candidate, defeated
incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski in the Senate GOP primary. Though Alaska
tilts right unlike Delaware, Murkowski decided to launch a write-in
bid, making the race a three-way contest including Democratic nominee
Scott McAdams.

Recent polls also show incumbent Democratic Sens. Patty Murray
(Wash.) and Barbara Boxer (Calif.) with growing leads, suggesting that those races could be
slipping away from Republicans.

The Democratic and Republican
Senate campaign chiefs, Sens. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) and John Cornyn
(R-Texas), will appear on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday to
discuss the overall campaign season.

Expect both members to be pressed to predict how their parties will
perform on Nov. 2, and be asked to comment on the overall strength of
their parties and political organizations.

Victories by Tea
Party candidates over several candidates backed by Cornyn’s National
Republican Senatorial Committee have sparked questions over internal
divisions within the GOP. The Texas senator will likely face inquiries
as to the internal state of affairs in his party.

Political observers have long said Republicans have a better chance
of taking back the House than the Senate. In order to win back the
Senate, the GOP would need to perform extraordinarily well on Election
Day.

Democrats currently have 59 seats in the Senate, meaning that
Republicans would need to win virtually every competitive race this
year in order to take the 10 seats necessary to take control.

Even if Republicans do not win control of the Senate, they could make significant gains on the Democratic majority.

Several Democratic incumbents look to be in deep trouble heading
into November. Sen. Blanche Lincoln (Ark.) trails by a large margin to her
Republican opponent Rep. John Boozman (Ark.).

Veteran Sen. Russ Feingold (Wis.) also faces a double-digit deficit in some polls to his Republican challenger Ron Johnson.

Other races are highly competitive between Republicans and
Democrats. Contests in Connecticut, Colorado, Illinois and West
Virginia could come down to the wire. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid
(D-Nev.) is also running in a very close race with Tea Party-backed GOP
nominee Sharron Angle.

“Fox News Sunday” will show a glimpse of another one of those races
by hosting a debate between Kentucky Senate nominees Rand Paul (R) and
Jack Conway (D).

Paul, the son of libertarian Rep. Ron Paul
(R-Texas), has garnered the most headlines in the race. He defeated
establishment pick Trey Grayson in the GOP primary but afterward found
himself in trouble for making controversial comments about the Civil
Rights Act of 1964.

Over the course of the campaign, Paul has focused on national
issues such as the debt and deficit, while Conway has chosen to focus
on local issues.

Paul holds single-digit leads in most polls over Conway in the race for the retiring Sen. Jim Bunning’s (R-Ky.) seat.

CBS’s “Face the Nation” will give a glimpse inside the Democratic
Party on Sunday. It hosts Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D-Pa.), New
Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D-N.M.) and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders
(I).

Rendell is a former chairman of the Democratic National
Committee and has been an outspoken voice for the party during campaign
season.

His state has a highly watched Senate race between former Rep. Pat
Toomey (R) and Joe Sestak (D). The two are vying to replace
Republican-turned-Democratic Sen. Arlen Specter, who lost in the primary
to Sestak in his bid for a sixth term.

Richardson ran in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary, but
bowed out after the early contests. Sanders, a self-described
democratic socialist who caucuses with the Democrats, is not up for
reelection until 2012 but is a key voice of the party’s liberal wing.

ABC’s “This Week” will air a special edition on Islam and its role
in America. NBC’s “Meet the Press” will not be broadcast due to the
Ryder Cup golf tournament.