4 reasons Democrats are hopeful about holding the Senate

For months, the GOP seemed to have better than even odds at seizing the Senate. Not anymore. What went wrong?

Mitt Romney and Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) are pictured in 2010
(Image credit: Robert Giroux/Getty Images)

Political forecasters have long said that Republicans were strongly favored to pick up four seats in November and regain control of the Senate, where Democrats now have a slim 53-47 majority. But now, says Nate Silver at The New York Times, "polls show key races shifting decisively toward the Democrats, with the Republican position deteriorating almost by the day." Indeed, on the gambling website Intrade, the betting market gives the GOP a mere 20 percent chance of seizing the Senate — nearly the polar opposite of the figure from a couple weeks ago, when Democrats were barely given a 20 percent chance to retain their majority. What accounts for this sea change? Here, four factors lifting Democratic fortunes:

1. Romney is dragging down Republicans in key races

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