Here's tonight's run-down on the Congressional races.

Minnesota GOP Accused Of Playing Up Racial Angle In House Race
Now this is awkward. The Minnesota Dems are circulating this tracker video of a state GOP press conference from Tuesday, in which reporters asked some very tough questions about wether the party was using race as an issue in saying that their House candidate Erik Paulsen better fits the "demographic" of the district than Democrat Ashwin Madia, who is Indian-American:

"I'm just saying from a demographic standpoint, Erik Paulsen fits the district very well," said state party chairman Ron Carey. A spokesperson for the state party declined to speak to Election Central when approached for comment.

Endangered GOP Senator Links Himself To Ted Kennedy In New Ad
Sen. Gordon Smith (R-OR), who has fallen behind in the polls against Democrat Jeff Merkley in this blue state, has this new ad touting his support for gay rights -- and his work with Ted Kennedy on the issue:

Smith has previously run ads tying himself in with Barack Obama and John Kerry -- the latter of whom he'd previously called a socialist back in 2004.

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Here's tonight's run-down of the Congressional races: Dems are continuing to hammer the Republicans on the economy, as the GOP faces some more bad poll numbers.

GOP Rep: I Wouldn't Have Picked Palin
Rep. Mark Kirk (R-IL) told the Chicago Tribune, "Quite frankly, I don't know" whether Sarah Palin is qualified to be president. In a very frank admission, Kirk added, "I would have picked someone different." As the Tribune noted, Kirk was initially a vocal supporter of Palin's nomination when it was first announced. (Via Progress Illinois)

Dem Ad: Coleman's Attacks Against Franken Are Ridiculous
The DSCC has this funny ad out, mocking the GOP's attacks against Al Franken:

"Al Franken sank this ship! Crashed these trains! And he hates puppies!" the announcer says. There is one problem, though: This ad is reminiscent of the humorous "Steele hates puppies" ad from the 2006 Maryland Senate race -- and Michael Steele lost by ten points.

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Here's today's rundown on the Congressional races: An avalanche of polls shows the Democrats running ahead or close behind in several seats that have been in GOP hands for years -- suggesting the possibility of major Dem gains.

GOP Rep's Ad: I'm Sorry I Went On An Abramoff Trip
This ad needs to be seen to be believed. Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL), who is facing a spirited challenge from Democrat Suzanne Kosmas, has this new ad in which he speaks to the camera and abjectly apologizes for going on an Abramoff-sponsored trip five years ago:

"I embarrassed myself, embarrassed you, and for that I'm very sorry," Feeney says.

Polls Show Big House Races In Ohio This Year
A new set of SurveyUSA polls in Ohio show Dems poised to pick up two out of four contested GOP-held district. In the First District, incumbent Rep. Steve Chabot (R) is holding a small lead over challenger Steve Driehaus (D) 46%-44%. In the Second District, Rep. Jean Schmidt (R) is holding an 8-point lead over challenger Victoria Wulsin (D) 48%-40%. But in the open 15th and 16th Districts Mary Jo Kilroy (D) has a 47%-42% lead over Steve Stivers (R), and John Boccieri (D) has a 49%-41% lead over Kirk Schuring (R).

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Here's this morning's run-down on the Congressional races: The Dems' chances of taking a key Senate seat have just gone up considerably, and the party overall is spending heavily in key races.

Polls Show GOP Sen. Dole Losing Re-Election
Two new polls show that Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-NC) is trailing her Democratic opponent Kay Hagan, a rare opportunity for a Democratic pick-up in a Southern Senate seat. The numbers from Public Policy Polling (D): Hagan 46%, Dole 41%, with a ±3% margin of error. And from Rasmussen: Hagan 51%, Dole 45%, with a ±4.5% margin of error.

Coleman: Bailout Isn't Really A Bailout
Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) is praising the proposed Wall St. bailout, in which the government would buy $700 billion in mortgage debts with little or no oversight or penalties for the firms that made that loans in the first place. Coleman alleges that the buyout is "not an infusion of cash" to the firms, but is in fact an investment by the government: "The government could make 10 or 20 times what it pays on this, possibly." Needless to say, this is economic nonsense.

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If they're lucky, the Republicans might have one less open House seat to deal with. Roll Call reports that Rep. Jim Ramstad (R-MN), who announced his retirement in September, is reconsidering his decision. The swing seat is seen as a major pick-up opportunity for the Democrats, but only if Ramstad were to leave it open.

Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), a friend of Ramstad's and a collaborator on proposed mental health parity legislation, said that the possibility of the legislation passing next year would be a big influence for Ramstad — which means that if the Democratic leadership could speed it through early in the year, Kennedy argues, Ramstad would be more comfortable with his decision to retire.

Jim Hovland, mayor of Edina, Minnesota, declared his candidacy yesterday for the seat of GOP Rep. Jim Ramstad, whose retirement has created a top pick-up opportunity for Democrats in a swing district.

Hovland was a Republican himself until recently, but switched to the Democrats and then began exploring the race — and he says he's gotten a good reception from the state DFL Central Committee. Other Democrats already in the race are state Sen. Terri Bonoff and Iraq War veteran Ashwin Madia, while state Rep. Erik Paulsen is the only declared Republican.

Prospective candidates are lining up for the seat of Congressman Jim Ramstad, who recently announced his retirement. The seat is a swing area that voted for President Bush by a mere three-point margin in 2004, so expect a lot of money to be spent here now that Bush has become amazingly unpopular and there is no long-time incumbent to hold it down.

The only declared candidate thus far is Democratic state Senator Terri Bonoff, who in a 2005 special election won a seat from Ramstad's historically Republican hometown of Minnetonka, and was re-elected in 2006. If Bonoff runs for Congress and loses, she will still have her state Senate job. State Senator Steve Simon and state Representative Melissa Hortman are also looking at the race.

On the Republican side, state Senator Geoff Michel and state Representative Erik Paulsen are regarded as being the potential frontrunners, but other Republicans are also looking at the race, and a lot could change.

And another one drops...

Republican Rep. Jim Ramstad will announce his retirement at a 4pm ET press conference, according to a GOP source cited by Minnesota Public Radio. Ramstad represents Minnesota's competitive 3rd District, where George Bush only edged John Kerry by three points in 2004.

That more and more House GOPers are announcing retirement -- others include Rick Renzi, Duncan Hunter, Ray LaHood, Dennis Hastert, Chip Pickering, and Deborah Pryce -- means that the national GOP, which is already struggling to raise cash for next year's House races, will have to sink ever more resources into defending once-safe seats. And the number of planned retirements can only go up.

Could this be the most perfect expression of WINO-ism yet?

As you know, the GOP's WINO caucus is home to those Republicans who are Waverers In Name Only when it comes to Bush's war policies -- they are said to be "wavering" in their support for those policies, but won't vote for anything that would force a change in those policies.

With that in mind, let's take a look at this video of GOP Rep. Jim Ramstad. It was filmed by Americans Against Escalation in Iraq, and captures Ramstad talking to constituents about the war:

As you can see, early on Ramstad says, "I agree with Harry Reid." He's talking about Reid's frequent demand that Iraq benchmarks have "teeth." Ramstad seems to agree with Reid that some kind of punitive measures are required to force progress in Iraq. So Ramstad is wavering in his support of Bush's approach, which is opposed to such teeth, right?

Yet just a few seconds later on the very same tape, Ramstad declares what he's going to actually do: Support the Salazar-Alexander bill, which doesn't contain any real teeth at all. In fact, Reid himself denounced this same bill recently as follows: "There's not a single tooth in that proposal."

So first Ramstad agrees with Reid that we need some kind of teeth, but then immediately goes on to declare his support for a bill that Reid himself says is toothless. In 60 seconds or less, Ramstad went from calling for teeth to declaring support for something that has had all its teeth knocked out. In 60 seconds or less, he went from waverer to WINO. Wow!

Relatedly, it's worth pointing out that the Salazar-Alexander bill is fast gaining momentum as September approaches. Indeed, it is emerging as the last refuge for WINO Republicans, and GOPers are busily laying the groundwork for it by talking up how much bipartisan support it has. Of course, all it will do is give nervous GOPers a way of saying they voted against the war without forcing a real change of course in any meaningful way. So perhaps it's fitting that it has the support of the ultimate WINO.