Democratic Doldrums

Jillian Bandes | January 06, 2010 10:07 AM

The sting of three recent Democratic retirements in Senate and governors races has further depressed Democratic aspirations in the 2010 mid-term elections. Sens. Chris Dodd

of Connecticut and Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, and Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter have all announced their exits. That's bad news on the heels of recent Democratic House retirements.

As 2009 ended, Democrats watched a string of their House members announce retirements and one congressman defect to the GOP.
Now, with Dodd, Dorgan and Ritter out, Republicans have even more to crow about, if not better opportunities to pick up Democratic-held seats.
Democrats, who have a 60-40 Senate majority that includes two independents who vote with them, now will have to defend four open seats in the Senate.

Connecticut will probably stay blue, though, anything can happen. But North Dakota and maybe even Colorado have a good chance of flipping to the GOP.