Second tier congressional races making some news

• How long can Stevens hold on?

Ted Stevens might very well be a beloved immovable politician, there's got to be a point at which the mountain of allegations against him starts to hurt him. Just a few days ago was revealed that the FBI had recorded phone conversations between Stevens and a businessman who has confessed to bribing Stevens's son.

Today, newly elected Republican Governor Palin put some pressure on Stevens to explain himself. In an interview with the Anchorage News Daily, Palin asserted that many Alaskans are still ready to support Stevens but they would need a more thorough explanation:Not hearing anything in terms of information that can be shared regarding the Senator's innocence is kind of frustrating for Alaskan. Alaskans are getting more anxious to hear any information that he can provide regarding his innocence." While Palin's vision of Alaska voters waiting anxiously for Stevens to give them even the vaguest indication of his innocence seems quite naive, it is remarkable that Stevens, who is embroiled in a massive bribery investigation and is running for re-election next year, has hardly said anything of these matters.

Democrats simply have to find a candidate to run against Stevens who could at worst be ready to benefit from more revelations against Stevens and at best make Stevens really sweat it out. No matter how much federal money Stevens can bring home from Washington, a strong Democrat could turn this into a competitive race. All eyes are still turned to Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich.

• TN-Sen: Democrats looking to expand the map
  

One of the reasons of the Democratic success in 2006 was the DSCC's ability to expand the map and challenge many Republican incumbents simultaneously, forcing the GOP to play defense and reducing its ability to attack Democratic incumbents. With that in mind, Democrats are trying to find new races to challenge. And many are now celebrating Michael Ray McWherter's decision to form an exploratory committee in the Tennessee Senate race, in against incumbent GOP Senator Lamar Alexander. McWerter is the son of a former Tennessee Governor, and could have the name ID to run an effective campaign against Alexander.

For now, this race is barely on anyone's radar screen, and McWherter's potential entrance would not change that. McWherther has not been visibly involved in Tennessee politics (despite playing some behind-the-scenes roles), and Alexander has never appeared particularly vulnerable. Ford's narrow defeat in the 2006 open seat here showed how difficult it is for a Democrat to win in Tennessee. Also, sons of former political stars do not appear to have a natural boost: When Carter's son ran in the Nevada Senate race against Ensign in 2006, he was hardly noticed by the media or by the netroots and Ensign won re-election easily -- even in that most Democratic of years.

But Democrats could at least force the NRSC to devote some attention and resources to put Tennessee away. And a distracted GOP is considerably weaker.

• Here's one seat that will not open up

Rep. McHugh of NY had been rumored to eye retirement over the past week, which had gotten GOP leaders worried given the number of seats that have already opened up. McHugh won very comfortably in 2006 (with more than 60% of the vote), but Democrats are smelling blood in upstate New York and are looking to pick-up the last few Republicans districts remaining in the state.

The GOP breathed a collective sigh of relief yesterday when John McHugh announced that he had no retirement plans whatsoever: "I have never told anyone otherwise and I have never at any time told anyone I was thinking of retiring and, as the Washington Post put it, ‘wanting to go home...’ My campaign is going forward on those matters necessary to wage another successful effort and when the time comes, we will be ready." At least for the time being, NY-23 remains safely Republican.