An aggressive, well-run campaign focused on your accomplishments can turn this race into an extremely competitive toss-up race in the general election.

From the beginning, this is a campaign I thought she could win. But it's become too tough an environment.

If the political environment does not change, the outcome of the 2006 elections becomes increasingly a roll of the dice dependent on how the campaigns are run, party and interest group resources and the intensity of base voters to turn out to vote.

For Senator McCain, his reputation as a maverick tirelessly working to reform the culture of Washington appears to be exactly what voters want.

If this environment holds, you have to assume it's going to tip for the Democrats.

From the Republican standpoint, we need the president to continue using the bully pulpit - in terms of defining the economy, defining the war, defining the war on terrorism. As opposed to that vacuum that was created last year where the Democrats defined the war and oil prices defined the economy.