Five Ups, Five Downs

Here's a look at five ups and five downs in this year's elections

Who's Up:

1. Amy Klobuchar-Republicans may spin it any way they want, but both national parties backing out of this race can only spell Senator Amy Klobuchar come November.

2. Second/Third Tier Female Democrats Challenging Republican Men-If the Foley scandal helps anyone, it's women runnning against Republican men. I'm thinking of people like Vic Wulsin, Nancy Boyda, Linda Stender, and Ellen Simon, amongst others, who will receive a three-four point increase because of this.

3. George Allen-There's no doubt that he's taking a little bit of a lead now in Virginia, and with only four weeks left, the DSCC better hope that their ad campaign is effective.

4. Christine Jennings-Somehow she's come out of nowhere and may be able to make Katherine Harris's follies plus Mark Foley's scandal turn into a win for her come November. The polls show she's not to be underestimated.

5. Patty Wetterling-Her opponent doesn't believe in global warming, and the Foley scandal is the complete antithesis to her lifetime of public service on behalf of children.

Who's Down:

1. Lincoln Chafee-The Republicans are funding in OH, TN, and MO for the next four weeks; this doesn't bode well for Linc, who was counting on national Republican money. Is the Democratic wave just too strong for him to hold up in super blue RI?

2. John Baldacci-One Democratic incumbent will go down come Election Night-the irratic nature of Maine voters and his near tie right now make him a prime candidate.

3. Ned Lamont-Lieberman has an almost insurmountable lead right now, and the DSCC won't spend a dime supporting Lamont when the likes of Ford, Menendez, and McCaskill need it more.

4. Dick DeVos-The latest bunch of polls show that Granholm has started a just outside the MOE lead. Her charisma may pull it out over his businessman like style.

5. Tim Pawlenty-Suddenly, this race has Hatch leading and everyone's shifting this to tossup categories. Ill feelings for Republicans can't help in still fairly blue Minnesota.