Two weeks out from Election Day, Republican Pat Toomey appears poised to lead a Republican surge in Pennsylvania in a Senate race that will test just how deeply the state's "blue" roots run.

The battle between Mr. Toomey, a former congressman, and Rep. Joe Sestak, a Democrat, is part of a larger story of this year's congressional campaigns: Democrats find they are devoting money and manpower to save Senate seats in areas that were once considered their political backyards. In Pennsylvania, Senate Democrats' campaign committee has spent more than it has on any other race, and Mr. Sestak has been aided by visits from President Obama and former President Bill Clinton...

(CNSNews.com) – Former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean says Democrats campaigning for the Nov. 2 mid-term elections should wait until they win before “educating” constituents about the benefits they will derive from the health care law signed into law by President Barack Obama in March.

Scott Simon, host of NPR’s Weekend Edition, asked Dean on Saturday why Democrats are not touting the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act while campaigning.

“I don't think we should be making the case right now,” Dean said. “Elections are not the time to educate people. You win the election, then you educate people afterwards,” Dean said...

With the decision of the Ohio Elections Commission to allow a hearing to decide whether the Susan B. Anthony List has falsely represented the voting record of Rep. Steve Driehaus (D-OH), the question is again raised: Was abortion funding authorized by the healthcare legislation signed into law by President Obama?

The complaint arose from the SBA List's use of billboards declaring that Rep. Driehaus of Ohio's 1st Congressional District had voted for taxpayer-funded abortions by voting for the healthcare bill. If Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of SBA, is found guilty, she could go to jail. Supporting Driehaus's effort to imprison Dannenfelser are James Salt, policy director of Catholics United, and Kristen Day, president of Democrats for Life of America.

Driehaus, by the way, had made essentially the same characterization of the healthcare legislation as made by Dannenfelser. On March 19, Driehaus was an original co-sponsor of H. Con. Res.

Americans are so "scared" they're not thinking straight about the upcoming elections, President Obama said over the weekend, as he sought to explain why voters are turning to Republican candidates.

The president, speaking at several rallies and fundraisers as part of his final get-out-the-vote stretch, said Republican candidates are "playing on fear" and suggested voters are falling for it. He said Americans have every reason to be worried, but lamented that "facts" aren't doing his party any good this year.

"People out there are still hurting very badly, and they are still scared. And so part of the reason that our politics seems so tough right now, and facts and science and argument does not seem to be winning the day all the time, is because we're hard-wired not to always think clearly when we're scared," Obama said at a Democratic fundraiser Saturday in Boston. "And the country is scared, and they have good reason to be"...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A leading national pollster says his survey of polling data in House races across the country shows pro-life Republicans will retake the House of Representatives from the pro-abortion Democrats who currently control the chamber. Ipsos pollster Cliff Young projects a 227-208 split for the GOP.

Should that happen, it would reveal just how frustrated American voters are with the Obama administration and his allies on Capitol Hill, who have promoted abortion extensively, including through the ObamaCare health care reform bill.

The analysis comes along with a new Ipsos poll showing voters prefer the Republican candidate in their Congressional district to the Democrat on a 48-44 percentage point margin...

The race for the Senate continues to heat up as Republicans lead for two seats currently held by Democrats -- Nevada and Washington -- while another Republican has closed into striking distance for an open seat in Connecticut.

Republican Linda McMahon has taken a bite out of Democrat Richard Blumenthal's lead in Connecticut while her fellow GOPers Dino Rossi and Sharron Angle cling to slim leads over entrenched Democrats in Washington state and Nevada.

With just three weeks to go, control of the U.S. Senate may hang on a handful of ballots in these key states...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A new slate of polls shows pro-life candidates holding leads in a handful of top Senate races, close in others and losing in Delaware. As Lifenews.com has noted, there is a chance pro-life advocates could take control of the Senate from pro-abortion leaders, including Harry Reid.

In New Hampshire, pro-life Republican Kelly Ayotte for the third month in a row earns more than 50% of the vote against Democratic Congressman Paul Hodes.

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely voters in New Hampshire shows Ayotte with 51% support to Hodes’ 44%, unchanged from a month ago. Three percent (3%) prefer some other candidate, and two percent (2%) are undecided....

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A handful of new polls form late last week show pro-life candidates either winning or facing close election contests. The new numbers come as some political observers are saying the odds of pro-life advocates recapturing the House and Senate from abortion proponents is now 50-50.

In the Washington Senate race, pro-life Republican challenger Dino Rossi has edged slightly ahead of pro-abortion incumbent Democrat Patty Murray.

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely voters in Washington shows Rossi with 49% of the vote, while Murray’s support stands at 46%. Three percent (3%) prefer some other candidate in the race, and two percent (2%) are undecided...

Based on polling conducted Sept. 23 to Oct. 3, Gallup now estimates that 54 percent of “likely voters” for the Nov. 2 election are self-professed conservatives.

If Gallup’s estimate holds up, self-professed conservative voters in this year’s midterm congressional election will outnumber self-professed liberals (18 percent of Gallup’s “likely voter” pool) by 3-to-1, and self-professed moderates (27 percent of Gallup’s “likely voter” pool) by 2-to-1.

The 54 percent of likely voters who Gallup says are conservatives also out-number the Republicans, whom Gallup estimates make up 39 percent of likely voters...

The latest Cook Political Report House forecast says "the chances of Republican gains in excess of 45 seats are now better than their chances of falling short of 40 seats. We currently rate 74 Democratic incumbents as vulnerable, including 28 in the Lean Democratic column, 34 in the Toss Up column, and 12 in the Lean Republican column. Just four Republican incumbents are in real jeopardy."

"Longtime readers will observe that while we rarely rate unindicted incumbents worse than a Toss Up to win reelection, today we are moving 13 incumbents, 12 Democrats and one Republican, into the opposite party's column to reflect their underdog status...