Jane Hamsher has a comprehensive post on why Democrats are poised to do better than you’d think in the midterm elections. It’s great to see a lot of varying strings of thought pulled together in one place, particularly as the elections are getting closer and contrary to Conventional Wisdom, Democrats are starting to look stronger at the polls. While there isn’t any reason to expect Democrats to gain seats, races around the country are tightening and places where Republicans should be walking away with pickups are becoming places where Democrats can hold onto seats.

Hamsher writes:

It’s indisputable that the Democrats will have a tough time this fall. There is just no way you can escape the fact that the party in power is going to take the heat when the country is experiencing 10% unemployment.  Higher turnout will help the Democrats, but it won’t save them.  However, small margins in key races may make a big difference, and when it comes to the kind of intense ground game we’re going to see in key races over the next few weeks, I’d have to say the incumbent Democrats are better prepared than most of their Republican challengers.  And if everything breaks towards the Democrats between now and election day, and control of the House comes down to 2-3 seats, that could provide the margins they need.

This is going to be really close. Democrats really don’t have any business being competitive now, especially given how the last three months have gone. But they’re still in this thing, not just in the Senate but the House too. A failure by the GOP to capture both the House and the Senate (let alone the House), should go down as one of the greatest missed electoral opportunities in American history.