A Toss-up In the Fall, Predict Cook and Rothenberg

Superstar election handicappers Stuart Rothenberg and Charlie Cook gazed into the crystal ball (and their extensive survey data) regarding this November's congressional elections and peered way into the political future with 2008 presidential nomination predictions during a late-afternoon session at the NFIB Small-Business Summit. Looking at the general mood of the electorate and examining "macro" data indicates Democrats will have a good November, Charlie Cook said. However, when one takes a "seat-by-seat" micro look at each individual House race, the picture is not as clear. With a lot of interesting and entertaining punditry along the way, the two agreed on this prediction: the Republicans will retain control of the Senate with a thin margin. And the House? A toss-up at this point. As for nomination prospects in the 2008 election, the two agreed that the current front runners are Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican John McCain.