If you're a political junkie that will be keeping score on election night, here are some campaigns to watch. The Democrats need to win 15 GOP-held House seats and six in the Senate for control. Visit Pollster.com to see how the races are trending.
25 Republican House seats are contested in five states: Connecticut, Indiana, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Senate
Democrat targets
- Pennsylvania Rick Santorum (R) - Bob Casey Jr (D)
- Rhode Island Lincoln Chafee (R) - Sheldon Whitehouse (D)
- Montana Conrad Burns (R) - Jon Tester (D)
- Ohio Mike DeWine (R) - Sherrod Brown (D)
- Tennessee Bob Corker (R) - Harold Ford Jr (D)
- Missouri Jim Talent (R) - Claire McCaskill (D)
- Virginia George Allen (R) - Jim Webb (D)
- Arizona Jon Kyl (R) - Jim Pederson (D)
Republican targets
- New Jersey Bob Menendez (D) - Tom Kean Jr (R)
- Maryland Ben Cardin (D) - Michael Steele (R)
- Washington Maria Cantwell (D) - Mike McGavick (R)
- Minnesota Amy Klobuchar (D) - Mark Kennedy (R)
House
Democrat targets
| District | Status | Republican | Democrat |
| AZ-08 | Lean Dem | Graf | Giffords |
| CO-07 | Lean Dem | O'Donnell | Perlmutter |
| FL-16 | Lean Dem | Foley | Mahoney |
| IN-08 | Lean Dem | Hostettler | Ellsworth |
| IN-09 | Lean Dem | Sodrel | Hill |
| IA-01 | Lean Dem | Whalen | Braley |
| OH-18 | Lean Dem | Padgett | Space |
| TX-22 | Lean Dem | Write-ins | Lampson |
| CT-02 | Toss-up / Lean Dem | Simmons | Courtney |
| IN-02 | Toss-up / Lean Dem | Chocola | Donnelly |
| NC-11 | Toss-up / Lean Dem | Taylor | Shuler |
| PA-06 | Toss-up / Lean Dem | Gerlach | Murphy |
| WA-08 | Toss-up / Lean Dem | Reichert | Burner |
| CT-04 | Toss-up | Shays | Farrell |
| IL-06 | Toss-up | Roskam | Duckworth |
| KY-04 | Toss-up | Davis | Lucas |
| NY-24 | Toss-up | Meier | Acuri |
| OH-01 | Toss-up | Chabot | Cranley |
| PA-07 | Toss-up | Weldon | Sestak |
| PA-10 | Toss-up | Sherwood | Carney |
| WI-08 | Toss-up | Gard | Kagen |
| VA-02 | Toss-up | Drake | Kellam |
| CO-04 | Toss-up / Lean Rep | Musgrave | Paccione |
| CT-05 | Toss-up / Lean Rep | Johnson | Murphy |
| FL-22 | Toss-up / Lean Rep | Shaw | Klein |
| MN-06 | Toss-up / Lean Rep | Bachmann | Wetterling |
| NV-02 | Toss-up / Lean Rep | Heller | Derby |
| NM-01 | Toss-up / Lean Rep | Wilson | Madrid |
| OH-15 | Toss-up / Lean Rep | Pryce | Kilroy |
| PA-08 | Toss-up / Lean Rep | Fitzpatrick | Murphy |
| AZ-01 | Lean Rep | Renzi | Simon |
| AZ-05 | Lean Rep | Hayworth | Mitchell |
| CA-11 | Lean Rep | Pombo | McNerney |
| FL-13 | Lean Rep | Buchanan | Jennings |
| KY-03 | Lean Rep | Northup | Yarmuth |
| MN-01 | Lean Rep | Gutknecht | Walz |
| NV-03 | Lean Rep | Porter | Hafen |
| NH-02 | Lean Rep | Bass | Hodes |
| NY-20 | Lean Rep | Sweeney | Gillibrand |
| NY-25 | Lean Rep | Walsh | Maffei |
| NY-29 | Lean Rep | Kuhl | Massa |
| OH-02 | Lean Rep | Schmidt | Wulsin |
| CA-04 | Likely Rep | Doolittle | Brown |
| CA-50 | Likely Rep | Bilbray | Busby |
| ID-01 | Likely Rep | Sali | Grant |
| IL-10 | Likely Rep | Kirk | Seals |
| IA-02 | Likely Rep | Leach | Loebsack |
| NJ-07 | Likely Rep | Ferguson | Stender |
| NY-19 | Likely Rep | Kelly | Hall |
| NY-26 | Likely Rep | Reynolds | Davis |
| NC-08 | Likely Rep | Hayes | Kissel |
| PA-04 | Likely Rep | Hart | Altmire |
| WY-AL | Likely Rep | Cubin | Trauner |
Republican targets
| District | Status | Republican | Democrat |
| GA-12 | Lean Dem | Burns | Barrow |
| IA-03 | Lean Dem | Lamberti | Boswell |
| IL-08 | Lean Dem | McSweeney | Bean |
| TX-17 | Lean Dem | Taylor | Edwards |
| WV-01 | Lean Dem | Wakim | Mollohan |
| VT-AL | Lean Dem | Rainville | Welch |
| GA-08 | Likely Dem | Collins | Marshall |
| OH-06 | Likely Dem | Blasdel | Wilson |
Governor
- Ohio Ken Blackwell (R) - Ted Strickland (D)
- Michigan Jennifer Granholm (D) - Dick DeVos (R)
- Colorado Bill Ritter (D) - Bob Beauprez (R)
Oct 12 polls
The following polling data as of October 12, 2006 for the House races is from http://www.majoritywatch.com and is summarized by MyDD. The first sixteen are Democrat pickups, which are listed in bold text.
- NY-26: Davis (D) 56%--40% Reynolds (R)
- OH-15: Kilroy (D) 53%--41% Pryce (R)
- NY-24: Arcuri (D) 53%--42% Mieir (R)
- OH-18: Space (D) 51%--42% Padgett (R)
- PA-07: Sestak (D) 52%--44% Weldon (R)
- NM-01: Madrid (D) 52%--44% Wilson (R)
- NC-11: Shuler (D) 51%--43% Taylor (R)
- NC-08: Kissel (D) 51%--44% Hayes (R)
- PA-06: Murphy (D) 52%--46% Gerlach (R)
- MN-06: Wetterling (D) 50%--45% Bachmann (R)
- IN-02: Donnelly (D) 50%--46% Chocola (R)
- AZ-01: Simon (D) 50%--46% Renzi (R)
- OH-02: Wulsin (D) 48%--45% Schmidt (R)
- FL-13: Jennings (D) 47%--44% Buchannan (R)
- WI-08: Kagen (D) 48%--46% Gard (R)
- IA-02: Loebsack (D) 48%--47% Leach (R)
- KY-03: Yarmuth (D) 48%--48% Northup (R)
- IL-06: Duckworth (D) 47%--47% Roskam (R)
- CO-07: Perlmutter (D) 47%--47% O'Donell (R)
- MN-01: Gutknecht (R) 48%--47% Walz (D)
- VA-02: Drake (R) 48%--46% Kellam (D)
- NJ-07: Ferguson (R) 48%--46% Stender (D)
- NY-03: King (R) 48%--46% Mejas (D)
- WA-08: Reichert (R) 48%--45% Burner (D)
- KY-04: Davis (R) 49%--46% Lucas (D)
- VA-10: Wolf (R) 47%--42% Feder (D)
- ID-01: Sali (R) 49%--43% Grant (D)
- CT-05: Johnson (R) 52%--46% Murphy (D)
- CA-04: Doolittle (R) 52%--44% Brown (D)
- IL-14: Hastert (R) 52%--42% Leasch (D)
- IL-19: Shimkus (R) 53%--36% Stover (D)
October 12, 2006 poll data by Pollster.com for the Senate races, which is summarized by MyDD.
- Minnesota: Klobuchar (D) 51%--40% Kennedy (R)
- Washington: Cantwell (D) 50%--41% McGavick (R)
- Pennsylvania: Casey (D) 48%--39% Santorum (R)
- Maryland: Cardin (D) 47%--40% Steele (R)
- Montana: Tester (D) 49%--43% Burns (R)
- Rhode Island: Whitehouse (D) 46%--40% Chafee (R)
- Ohio: Brown (D) 47%--42% DeWine (R). Note: this average reflects the new Survey USA poll on the race.
- New Jersey: Menendez (D) 45%--41% Kean (R)
- Tennessee: Ford (D) 47%--44% Corker (R)
- Missouri: McCaskill (D) 46%--44% Talent (R). Note: this average reflects the new Survey USA poll on the race.
- Virginia: Allen (R) 48%--42% Webb (D)
- Arizona: Kyl (R) 49%--40% Pederson (D)
- Connecticut: Lieberman (CfL) 50%--39% Lamont (D)
Candidates and Issues
From the Blade:
OHIO VOTE TOTALS
Updated at 5:21a.m., 98.21 percent reporting.
Projected winner - *
Governor
Ted Strickland (D) -- 2, 253,757 *
Ken Blackwell (R) -- 1,382,644
U.S. Senator
Sherrod Brown (D) -- 2,086,784*
Mike DeWine (R) -- 1,648,165
Attorney General
Marc Dann (D) – 1,882,157 *
Betty Montgomery (R) -- 1,711,767
Secretary of State
Jennifer Brunner (D) – 1,946,140 *
Greg Hartmann (R) -- 1,448,998
Treasurer
Richard Cordray (D) -- 2,055,975 *
Sandra O'Brien (R) -- 1,516,607
Auditor
Barbara Sykes (D) -- 1,744,481
Mary Taylor (R) -- 1,819,038 *
Justice of the Supreme Court
William O'Neill (D) -- 1,179,960
Terrence O'Donnell (R) -- 1,728,960 *
Justice of the Supreme Court
Ben Espy (D) – 1,344,386
Robert Cupp (R) -- 1,564,662 *
State Issue 2 (increase in state minimum wage)
For -- 1,976,556 *
Against -- 1,542,443
State Issue 3 (slot machines to raise $$ for college tuition)
For -- 1,574,866
Against -- 2,065,076 *
State Issue 4 (weak smoking ban)
For -- 1,304,067
Against -- 2,346,836 *
State Issue 5 (strong smoking ban)
For -- 2,133,251 *
Against -- 1,525,899
LUCAS COUNTY VOTE
Updated at 3:37a.m. with 100 percent of precincts reporting.
County Commissioner
Ben Konop (D) -- 87,583 *
George Sarantou – 48,785
County Auditor
Anita Lopez (D) – 74,981 *
Larry Kaczala (R) – 62,783
Toledo City Council (at-large)
Joe McNamara (D) – 25,993 *
Lourdes Santiago (D) – 22,497
Bob Vasquez (D) – 11,475
James Mohn (D) – 2,242
Dave Schulz (R) – 9,376
Dave Davison (I) – 2,242
Toledo Zoo (1-mill capital levy)
For – 82,418 *
Against – 56,807
COSI (0.167-mill operating levy)
For – 68,155
Against – 69,760 *
Children Services (1.4-mill levy)
For – 87,109 *
Against – 50,340
Emergency Services (0.7-mill)
For – 87,327 *
Against -- 49,276