Two years ago, I asked Texas Sen. John Cornyn, then (and still) the chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), if the GOP was going to win enough seats to take back the majority it lost in 2006. He said he always saw it as a two-cycle process: win some seats in 2010 — and they did, in Arkansas (with John Boozman), Illinois (Mark Kirk), Indiana (Dan Coats), North Dakota (John Hoeven), Pennsylvania (Pat Toomey) and Wisconsin (Ron Johnson) — and then finish the job in 2012, when the numbers would be far more hospitable.

And if there's one thing you could say about this year's Senate races, it's that the landscape clearly favors the Republicans. Of the 33 Senate seats up for grabs, 23 are currently held by Democrats or Democratic-leaning independents. Only ten are held by Republicans. And with Democrats currently holding a 53-47 advantage, the GOP would need four seats to take control — or three, if Mitt Romney won the White House (and Vice President Paul Ryan would break a 50-50 tie).