I've alluded to this before, but it's a statistic of such strategic significance that it's worth devoting a whole post to. Here are the number of Senators who will be facing the voters in the next three elections:
Right now Democrats have a 51-49 majority. Just because so many Republicans are at risk in 2008, we're likely to make big gains. After 2010 I'd expect our Senate majority to be something like 57-43. A filibuster-proof 60-seat majority is unlikely, but not impossible. But we're almost guaranteed to lose a lot of seats in 2012 when several red-state Democrats face the voters.
