Senate Majority in Reach for Republicans

It still isn’t likely—OK?—but suddenly it's "within the realm of speculation” that the Republicans could recapture the Senate in November. With Mark Kirk’s primary win in Illinois and competitive races in Colorado, Pennsylvania, and California, a 10-seat pickup is now a distant possibility, Jim Vandehei and Alexander Burns write in Politico. And insiders tell them former Sen. Dan Coats will challenge Evan Bayh in Indiana, spicing up the fray.

Recall that Beau Biden won't run for his father’s vacant Delaware seat against likely winner Mike Castle, Harry Reid is looking vulnerable in Nevada, and Blanche Lincoln appears doomed in Arkansas. The icing on the cake: Joe Lieberman has said it’s “possible” he might run as “a good, old-fashioned, New England moderate Republican” in 2012, indicating he might switch parties totally and join the GOP caucus. Still, Vandehei and Burns write, “it's much more likely Republicans will end up gaining a handful of seats but fall several short of a majority.” (More Mark Kirk stories.)