GOP Senate Prospects Not Looking Good

With one year to go before the elections, recent surveys of seven GOP Senate seats up in 2008 show that Republicans have a big battle ahead:

"Surveys done last week in seven states with competitive Senate races showed Democrats leading or tied in five, trailing narrowly in one, and with a significant deficit in the other. All seven Senate seats now are held by Republicans."

Virginia: Mark Warner (D) ahead of Jim Gilmore (R), 57% to 35%.
New Hampshire: Jeanne Shaheen (D) leads Sen. John Sununu (R), 53% to 42%.
Colorado: Rep. Mark Udall (D) leads Bob Schaffer, 48% to 41%.
New Mexico: Mayor Martin Chavez (D) has "narrow leads" over both Reps. Steve Pearce (R) and Heather Wilson (R). However, Gov. Bill Richardson (D) would handily defeat any Republican, if he chooses to run.
Minnesota: Sen. Norm Coleman (R) is in a statistical tie with either Al Franken (D) or Mike Ciresi (D).
Oregon: Sen. Gordon Smith (R) leads Jeff Merkley (D), 48% to 39%.
Maine: Sen. Susan Collins (R) has a "commanding lead" over Rep. Tom Allen (D), 55% to 38%.

Several of these openings are due to retirements, so seats that were previously thought pretty safe suddenly are open. There's a real chance of losing several of these, and no signs of current Dem seats switching to GOP.

A year is still a long time in politics and these numbers could dramatically shift, but the GOP will have some serious work to do if they don't want to find themselves in a filibuster-proof minority in the Senate.