GOP Determines That The Pennsylvania and Ohio Senate Races Are Un-Stealable

A couple of days ago, TPM Muckraker reported that the national GOP isn't giving any money for ads to help Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania hang on to his Senate seat. Now we learn that the GOP is also giving up on the Senate race in Ohio:

Senior Republican leaders have concluded that Senator Mike DeWine of Ohio, a pivotal state in this year’s fierce midterm election battles, is likely to be heading for defeat and are moving to reduce financial support for his race and divert party money to other embattled Republican senators, party officials said.

The decision to effectively write off Mr. DeWine’s seat, after a series of internal Republican polls showed him falling behind his Democratic challenger, is part of a fluid series of choices by top leaders in both parties as they set the strategic framework of the campaign’s final three weeks, signaling, by where they are spending television money and other resources, the Senate and House races where they believe they have the best chances of success.

Republicans are now pinning their hopes of holding the Senate on three states — Missouri, Tennessee and, with Ohio off the table, probably Virginia — while trying to hold on to the House by pouring money into districts where Republicans have a strong historical or registration advantage, party officials said Sunday. Republicans also said they would run advertisements in New Jersey this week to test the vulnerability of Senator Robert Menendez, one of the few Democrats who appear endangered.

Meanwhile, the U.S.S. Eisenhower continues its journey to the Straits of Hormuz. Billmon and Digby have more on this.

I'd be genuinely surprised if Bush did not attack Iran prior to the election. What does he have to lose? Even Bush must realize that his presidency is probably finished if the Democrats take over either the House or the Senate, so why not attack Iran.

If the strategy fails, he could always move to South America. Bush is reportedly buying huge tracts of land in Paraguay. Maybe he's planning on fleeing the United States on November 8th. If he did so, it would be his greatest accomplishment as president.