Three pundits agree: Democrats will take the House

Rothenberg, Sabato and Cook predict that the GOP will lose between 20 and 40 seats.

Published November 3, 2006 1:05AM (EST)

Democrats need 15 seats to take control of the House of Representatives. Here's what three political analysts think they'll get, at least as of today:

Stuart Rothenberg says that Democrats are "most likely" to pick up 34 to 40 seats, "with slightly larger gains not impossible." Rothenberg also says that he thinks "state and national dynamics" make it more likely than not that the Democrats will pick up the six seats they need to take control of the Senate.

Larry Sabato is up with a new set of "Crystal Ball" predictions, and he says he's never seen a "stormier" outlook for anyone. Sabato is projecting that Democrats will pick up between 23 and 30 seats in the House, with his best guess being 27. But that's not the worst of it for the GOP, he says. At this moment, Sabato says he doesn't see "a single election for Senate, House or governor in which a Republican is likely to succeed a Democrat in office." If that scenario holds, he says, it will be the first time since at least World War II that one of the two major parties has been so thoroughly shut out of electoral success.

Charlie Cook now says it would take a "miracle" for the Republicans to retain control of the House. Based on the latest polling data, Cook says the GOP is likely to lose between 20 and 35 seats in the House, but that a loss of more than 35 seats wouldn't surprise him, either. "The vulnerable GOP seats are there, the wave is there, maybe it happens, maybe it doesn't," he says.


By Tim Grieve

Tim Grieve is a senior writer and the author of Salon's War Room blog.

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2006 Elections War Room