With things trending to the positive for Republicans, let's look at the races in play in the final 24 hours leading to Election Day. I will be voting early and will gladly note my selections out here tomorrow morning.

In the Senate:

Arizona - The incumbent John Kyl is running ahead, but Charles Schumer, whose job it is to get Democrats elected to the Senate, when he's not performing his duties as a Senator, thinks that Kyl's challenger, Jim Pederson has a chance. He is wrong. In spite of the $1 million that the Democrats sent Pederson's way, Kyl is pulling away and wins this one by better than 10 points.

Connecticut - The incumbent, Joe Lieberman is ahead of his Democrat challenger. Lieberman, who is also a Democrat is running as an independent. Lieberman has led consistently since his primary defeat to Ned Lamont. Lamont's only hope is that Alan Schlesinger, the Republican polling in single digits, can convince a majority of Republicans to vote for him. In a perfect world, Dean Barnett's scenario of Lieberman winning, retiring and governor Jodi Rell appointing Schlesinger to the empty seat would occur. I do not believe Joe Lieberman is eager to burn his bridges with the Democrats, so bet on him serving another term.

A minor observation, the recent ads, in Connecticut, commenting on Lieberman's campaign against Lowell Wiecker, saying 18 years is enough, would fit, if the Democrats had put forth a challenger to senior Senator Chris Dodd who has been around for longer. It's a tailor-made issue when Dodd next comes up for re-election, and hopefully at that time, the Republicans will have a viable candidate to run against him.

Maryland - Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele is gaining on Democrat Rep. Ben Cardin to replace outgoing Senator Paul Sarbanes. The most recent polling has Steele within 6 points, or better. And Steele has the support of a number of prominent Prince George County African-American Democrats. Cardin's campaign follies have included a Michal J. Fox ad slamming Steele on embryonic stem cell research, without mentioning the embryonic part. The problem was that the position Michael J. Fox supported was supported by neither Steele nor Cardin. In a state as blue as Maryland, it is difficult to fathom Cardin losing. Sarbanes and Barbara Mikulski have enjoyed 63+ support in the last three Senate elections in Maryland. But Steele has a real chance at a major upset, and my hunch is that Steele wins in a squeaker. One point max.

Michigan - Could all the polls possibly be wrong? Not likely. And so as much as I have enjoyed the campaign that Mike Bouchard has run, the only way he wins is if the dissatisfaction with Michigan incumbents is overwhelming. As ineffective as Debbie Stabenow has been as a Senator, she holds a nearly insurmountable lead in the polls in this stage of the game. Stabenow by five.

Minnesota - Either Mark Kennedy has run an ineffective campaign or Minnesota is not going Republican in 2006. With the gains Tim Pawlenty, Norm Coleman and other Republican candidates have made in Minnesota, this race should be competitive. Again, massive poll leads might all be wrong. But that is very, very unlikely. I call this race for Amy Klobuchar by around 12 points.

Missouri - Claire McCaskill is in trouble. The polls are barely showing it, but her campaign, between the ACORN operatives indicted for election fraud and the use of a questionable veteran in an ad decrying Senator Talent's votes for veteran's benefits, is stumbling toward the gate. It was for McCaskill that Michael J. Fox first trashed a politician for opposing stem cell research, when in fact they oppose embryonic stem cell research. The polls show a close race with the candidates even. Talent wins by six.

Montana - Conrad Burns was written off for dead. Jon Tester was popular and his ads were winning in Montana. Sending Burns home was going to be easy. But Tester was unable to put Burns away and on Election Eve, the race is tight, and tied and a tossup. My hunch is that this momentum shift is real and that Burns will pull the comeback. I'll stick with my hunch and call it Burns by four.

New Jersey - Like Jim Geraghty, I have been disappointed by too many New Jersey Republicans to really believe in Tom Kean Jr. The fundamentals of growth of the GOP in New Jersey post-9/11 should make this an easy pickup, especially given Senator Menendez' various ethical question marks. But I am not convinced of Kean's ability to take down the sitting Senator. Although Senator Menendez has been on the job for all of one year, thanks to his appointment by NJ Governor Corzine, he keeps his seat by one or two points.

Ohio - Ohio is the biggest, baddest battleground state in the land. Sometime in the next 17 months or so, some objective soul, pecking away at the his or her keyboard in some massive MSM empire building will tap out that no Republican can win the Presidency without winning Ohio, and due to the implosion of the Republican party in Ohio, there is no chance a Republican will return to the White House in 2009. Overlooked in that future analysis will be the come back of Mike DeWine in this year's election. Sherrod Brown has enjoyed a comfortable lead, but DeWine is crawling back into it. And the ground game in Ohio is as good as it gets. It won't get Ken Blackwell elected, but it will keep DeWine's seat.

Pennsylvania - Rick Santorum is a politician that few people who recognize his name are neutral about. Folks love him or loathe him, but you'd be hard pressed to find someone agnostic about him. So as he stares down the barrel of double digit deficits against a pro-life Democrat, his main weapon is incumbency in a year touted as a revolt against incumbents. Yet he remains poised to shock the Democrat establish, but he needs a lot of luck. First the GOP GOTV effort has to be humming. Second, enough pro-choice Democrats have to find Bob Casey Jr. odious enough to stay home. Finally, the weak showing of some Republican candidates in typically safe districts (Curt Wheldon call your office) cannot hurt overall GOP turnout in those districts. Santorum has one advantage. Bob Casey tends to play prevent defense late in the game giving his opponents every opportunity to pull out their races. With a pair of polls showing Santorum 8 points back and taking into account the ground game in Pennsylvania, Santorum has the fundamentals of a come back in place. I can see it going either way, but I am calling it Santorum by less than a point.

Rhode Island - In 2004, President Bush and Rick Santorum supported liberal Republican Arlen Specter in his re-election bid. I know, I just talked about Pennsylvania, humor me, will ya? In 2006, very liberal Republican Lincoln Chaffee has received support from the Republican party helping him to a convincing, but close victory over Steve Laffey in the Republican primary. Scholars of political thought will look at this outcome as saving one majority over ideological purity. Fine. And as Sheldon Whitehouse built a commanding lead over Chaffee in the general election, it looked like the strategy was failing. Until this weekend, when momentum seemed to have swung back into Chaffee's favor. I'm calling it for Chaffee, recognizing that the coattails of Dad's name are long gone, but that Lincoln has won a good race and has won in Rhode Island before, no small feat in a state that cast 70% of its votes for Bill Clinton in 1996. Chaffee by three.

Tennessee - At one point it looked like Harold Ford Jr. was going to take score the pickup of Tennessee's open seat. Then he imploded, crashing a press conference and developing a tone deafness that John Kerry would envy. Bob Corker is pulling away and at this juncture a single digit victory would surprise me.

Virginia - In easily the ugliest, sleaziest campaign of the year, George Allen will retain his seat, likely by better than six points, belying the closeness that has been observed. This is one of those races that have seemingly been out there and available for the taking, largely due to repetitive missteps of the incumbent. Fortunately for Allen, Jim Webb has made as many mistakes if not more. A truly sad campaign, that thankfully will soon be over. Allen by eight.

Washington - Maria Cantwell is running solidly ahead of Mike McGavick. It does not appear that a rehashing of the political shenanigans from 2004's Washington State Governor's race. Only with a very strong turnout can McGavick hope to close within five points when the ballots that matter count. He seems like a capable, talented politician and has run a good campaign in a deeply blue state. A run for Governor might make sense in two years. McGavick by six.

In total I see the Republicans with 56 seats, Democrats with 42 and the two independents rounding out the field. You may not hear many folks calling for the GOP to add seats, but that's the way it is breaking. The interesting thing is that I think without some obvious flubs, the GOP could have picked up two or three seats. I'll have some analysis of the Governor races later on.