As the sun rises on Election Day here in the United States, Democrats are being given licence to dare to dream about a possible landslide.

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Millions of Americans have already cast their ballots, with early voting and postal voting taking place in many states across the nation for several weeks now. But the projections ahead of today's vote are extraordinary.

The latest Siena College poll for the New York Times suggests Democrats could romp to victory over their Republican rivals, not just in traditional battleground states such as Michigan, Ohio and Iowa, but in places that would have seemed unthinkable only a few election cycles ago.

The numbers coming out of Texas are astonishing. In Maine, Senator Susan Collins, a fixture in Washington since 1997, appears to be in trouble. And in Kansas, which has not elected a Democrat to the US Senate since 1932, Methodist preacher and theologian Adam Hamilton looks capable of defeating Republican Roger Marshall.

In the House of Representatives, the Cook Political Report, a highly respected organisation that has been making projections in Washington for decades, is predicting Democratic gains of up to 25 seats, possibly even more. Democrats need to pick up just four seats, while holding on to the ones they already have, to secure a........

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