Key Democrat Sees Moderate Losses
Democrats will lose only three seats in the Senate and keep majorities in both chambers of Congress in the coming elections, Democratic National Committee adviser Tony Coelho predicted Sunday.
Republican leaders, backed by polls showing a surge in support for Republican candidates, predict that the GOP will win control of the Senate and have a chance of capturing a majority in the House for the first time since 1954. To do that, Republicans need to pick up seven seats in the Senate and 40 in the House.
But Coelho, on CBS-TV’s “Face the Nation,” predicted that his party’s strength will drop by only three in the Senate and 20 to 25 in the House, “normal historic numbers” for the party in power to lose in midterm elections.
Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), who would become Speaker if the Republicans gain a majority, has predicted his party could pick up more than 70 seats in the House.
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