Just 40 days from the end of midterm-election voting, it’s beginning to look like a cycle in which all things are possible for Democrats. Not too long ago, the idea of Democrats winning control of the Senate seemed like a very long shot, mostly because the landscape of contests in this particular year was heavily skewed toward red states. But that appears to be a handicap Democrats is overcoming. Using the Cook Political Report race ratings, which tend to be very cautious about assuming some big national “wave” has formed, six GOP-held Senate seats are in races where the GOP is not favored to win (i.e., they are rated as toss-ups or “Lean Democratic”). And the dynamics are not favorable to Republicans: Cook has just moved the Kansas contest from “Likely Republican” to “Leans Republican”; the Georgia race (once considered a prime pickup opportunity for the GOP) from “Leans Democratic” to “Likely Democratic”; and most shockingly, the South Carolina race from “Solid Republican” to “Safe Republican.”

Crystal balls aside, where Republicans are spending their money shows how far back on their heels they are in Senate contests, as Politico reported this week:

In a closed-door meeting Wednesday, Sen. Tim Scott, the chair of the NRSC, told Senate Republicans that the campaign arm will focus its spending going forward........

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