US Senate goes down to the wire

Of those three, Tennessee seems the most difficult for Democrats to take. Rep. Harold Ford (D) has turned what should have been a Republican romp for former Chattanooga Mayor Bob Corker (R) into a tight contest. The incumbent, Senate Republican leader Bill Frist, is retiring, and open seats are usually harder to defend, but Mr. Ford's charismatic campaign style has made the race competitive. If he wins, he would be the first African-American senator from the South since Reconstruction.

Virginia and Missouri remain firmly in the tossup column going into Tuesday's vote. The Missouri race pits state auditor Claire McCaskill (D) against incumbent Sen. Jim Talent (R) – with a ballot initiative on stem-cell research possibly holding the key to the outcome. Senator Talent opposes a proposed state constitutional amendment allowing embryonic stem-cell research while Ms. McCaskill supports it. The issue could drive turnout, but it remains unclear who benefits more.

In Virginia, Republican Sen. George Allen's troubled reelection campaign is the big surprise of the '06 midterms. Once thought to be a top contender for the 2008 presidential race, he could be facing the end of his political career. A series of stumbles that began in August, when Senator Allen called a volunteer for the opposing campaign "macaca," has made conservative Democrat Jim Webb competitive.

To Sen. Charles Schumer (D) of New York, head of his party's Senate campaign committee, the fact that his party even has a shot at taking a majority is astounding. At the start of the cycle, he and Senate minority leader Harry Reid (D) of Nevada agreed that "if we can hold our own, we will be happy, and if we can pick up seats we'll be really happy," he told reporters last week.

Now, it's all over but the shouting. At a Monday morning rally at the Vienna, Va., subway stop, Allen was often drowned out by antiwar protesters shouting: "Get out of Iraq!," "The troops hate you," "Let's Go Webb," and "Macaca," as Allen supporters tried to drown them out with cries of "Allen! Allen!"

"It's a close race," said Allen. "Iraqis have to stand up ... the one thing we cannot do is leave Iraq a safe haven for terrorists."

Commenting on what has become one of the most negative campaigns in the nation, Allen said: "We have tried throughout the whole campaign to talk about ideas, issues. Instead, we've run into this sort of thing." He gestured to the shouting protesters, one of whom stumbles into the senator, nearly knocking him over.

"I know Virginia, and if you want to serve Virginia, you better know Virginia, and that is what we are going to see [in the vote] tomorrow," he said, exiting to the day's next event.

• Staff writer Gail Russell Chaddock contributed to this report.

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