Dem: Keeping Senate would be ‘miracle’

Democratic strategist Joe Trippi said on Sunday it would be a “miracle” in the current political environment for Democrats to hold on to the Senate.

“I would gauge that Republicans are likely to pick up between five and eight seats,” Trippi said on “Fox News Sunday.”

{mosads}Trippi said Democrats might, however, be able to hold Republican gains to five seats due to a fundraising advantage and “being able to use the Obama get-out-the-vote methods that were perfected in 2012.”

“If they can actually generate that, there’s a chance they — they do have a miracle and stop the Republicans from taking the Senate,” he added.

Republicans need a net pick-up of six seats to win control of the Senate. Trippi agreed with host Chris Wallace that Montana, West Virginia and South Dakota are likely lost to Democrats.

“I don’t think there are anybody within any of those three races who believes they are not going to be in the GOP hands in November,” Trippi said.

Trippi said Iowa is “going to be a donnybrook.”

“Both parties are going to put everything into this,” he said. “And again, the interesting play here will be does the money advantage and does the get-out-the-vote effort that the Democrats have perfected, does it turn out more votes for [Rep. Bruce] Braley? The interesting thing is the Republicans, the RNC have been trying to play catch-up in the ground game with data, and we haven’t seen that yet. Does that appear in this race, as well?”

Trippi said he’s “ready to start saying if this trend continues,” Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) will be reelected.

Trippi also said he thinks Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) is “in deep trouble and probably gone.”

“I’ve been out there this year, and once an incumbent starts to unravel, it’s really hard to put that genie back in the bottle. I think that’s what’s happening.”

Earlier this year, MSNBC host Chris Matthews said Democrats could lose 10 Senate seats in the midterm elections.

“To the Democrats, this election, a rosy scenario is to lose five Senate seats, not six,” he said in February on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

— This post was updated on Monday at 10:14 a.m.