Five minutes after George Bush won re-election in 2004 and began talking about Social Security reform, the pundits lined up those Senate Republicans they expected to be in trouble in the 2006 midterm election.

Some things never change.

Five minutes after Barack Obama took the oath in January and began signing executive orders and expanding government, those same pundits began lining up the Senate Democrats they expect to be in trouble in 2010, Obama’s first midterm.

Historically, a president's party loses seats in Congress in midterm elections, so in theory, 2010 should favor the GOP. Yet it is hard to imagine the GOP making significant gains because most seats held by Democrats facing re-election are in states that "went Obama" in 2008.

Colorado is one state showing signs of a possible GOP pickup. Democrat Michael Bennet, appointed to replace former Sen. Ken Salazar when he became Interior secretary, has little name recognition.

“If Bennet is opposed by someone like Pete Coors, who almost beat Salazar in 2004, or popular former Gov. Bill Owens, that seat could easily go to the GOP,” said University of Arkansas political scientist Rob Maranto.

Villanova University professor Lara Brown thinks a good conservative Latino recruit like Loretta Sanchez would be a smart move for the Colorado GOP.

Two other possible GOP pickups are the seats of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut. Polling in those states has found both men on remarkably shaky ground.

Brown says Dodd’s connections to the AIG and Countrywide scandals make him vulnerable to a possible primary fight.

“An enterprising Democrat might decide that taking Dodd on would be good politics," she said, pointing to a "reformer-type, someone who will not be perceived as a corrupt politician." Continued...