Here’s how the University of Virginia’s Larry Sabato assesses North Carolina’s race for Senate. It is courtesy of Rasmussen Reports.
North Carolina: Sen. Richard Burr (R) holds the least secure seat in America, having turned over to the opposite party just like clockwork every six years since 1980. Despite low name recognition, Burr is in a good position to break the jinx. Top-flight Democratic candidates took a pass, and with the unpopularity of President Obama and Gov. Beverly Perdue (D) in the Tar Heel State, one can sense a GOP year on the march. Secretary of State Elaine Marshall and former state Sen. Cal Cunningham finished one-two in the early May primary, and are fighting each other in a resources-draining runoff. Burr is sitting on millions. LEANS REPUBLICAN HOLD.
Sabato assesses all the races and concludes with this. By the way, he assesses the Barbara Boxer race in California as a toss-up. Now we know why President Obama has made multiple trips to California.
Overall, this updated Senate assessment suggests a Republican net gain in the neighborhood of not less than 4 or 5 seats, and quite conceivably, up to 7 or 8 seats. It takes a net gain of ten for the GOP to win the Senate outright, and that appears very unlikely at the moment. Still, Republicans would count the year a big success if they narrowed the 59-seat Democratic majority down to a range of 51-55 seats.
