1) VIRGINIA - IT’S NOT MY FAULT! A couple of angry readers have written in suggesting that I must be just skipping about Soxblog Manor in joy given the latest poll results of the Allen/Webb campaign. They also reason that since I’ve written some disparaging things about the Allen campaign and a long time ago wrote nice things about Jim Webb that there must be a causal effect between my blogging and the latest Virginia polls.

I won’t even try to figure out the logic there. I think it’s pretty well known that I very much want the Republicans to hold both chambers of Congress. I also assume it’s pretty well known that I haven’t thought highly of the Allen campaign. But believe me, I’d much rather have George Allen return to the Senate than have my criticism of his campaign receive incontrovertible validation on Election Day.

For what it’s worth, I took this one off the board when the talk turned to Webb’s novels and his unique description of what we’ll call a Cambodian Hello for the purposes of this family-friendly blog. I still think this conversation dooms the Webb campaign, and that Allen will win.

2) TENNESSEE – FANCY FEELING THE HEAT: The latest polls in the Corker/Ford race show Corker developing a lead and gathering increasing momentum. The latest CNN Poll shows Corker leading by 8. Remember on Sunday I said that Ford looked like a guy who had just seen some really awful internals? Looks like I might have been on to something.

3) MARYLAND – THE MAN OF STEELE! - Michael Steele and his campaign continue to impress. Let’s face it – if George Allen were half the candidate that Steele is, he would be winning by 20 and be the frontrunner for the 2008 Republican nomination. Steele’s latest stroke of genius is responding to a Cardin “man in the street” ad by pointing out that all of Cardin’s “men in the street” were actually on Cardin's payroll.

After Sunday’s “Meet the Press Debate,” I opined that a Steele victory should no longer be considered an upset. Look for that to gel into conventional wisdom by the end of the week.

4) MISSOURI – MY MONEY’S ON TALENT! The polls in this one indicate a total dead heat. What’s most encouraging is that there’s a significant disparity between likely voters and registered voters. The Republican in Missouri is doing better among the likely voters, and that happens to be the case nationwide.

This means everything will depend on who actually shows up to the polls next Tuesday. The lefty blogs and their abettors in the media are sure fired up, but that just means that people in a position to make a lot of noise are doing so. But is their noise moving the electorate? Which brings us to…

5) CONNECTICUT – THE MOONBAT PICKETT’S CHARGE – It wasn’t that long ago when Ned Lamont was the most beloved figure amongst the Nutroots. But lately, the Nutroots have turned on their erstwhile hero like the pack of rabid Chihuahuas that they are. One can hardly read a left wing blog without seeing opprobrium hurled in Nedrenaline’s direction for the awful campaign that he has run.

In truth, Lamont was straitjacketed by his primary campaign. It’s not exactly like tacking to the sensible center was an option once he had a bunch of overly-enthused moonbats whopping it up in his living room.

But the real point of the Lamont campaign is that even in left of center Connecticut, there’s not much enthusiasm for the Democratic candidates beyond the fevered base which admittedly has enthusiasm to spare. But in America, you only get to vote once regardless of how passionate you are about a candidate or the issues. It’s that little technicality, and not any meta-campaign failures, that have doomed the Lamont campaign and suggest a bad moon rising for the left.

One more thing about Ned Lamont before leaving the subject, perhaps forever. (I’m actually getting a little choked up thinking that this might be the last paragraph I ever write about Ned Lamont.) In spite of his vaunted ground game and the fact that Lieberman had no ground game, Lamont under-performed the primary poll numbers. By a lot. Call me a loon, but I think there’s a lesson in there.

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