Via Mike Allen:

1)No Republican is being taken by surprise, unlike many Democrats in 1994. 2) Absentee ballot requests and returns, closely tracked by the party, are meeting or exceeding past levels for Republicans in key states and districts. 3)When the national parties, national campaign committees, state “victory” committee accounts and competitive campaigns are added up, Republicans maintained a substantial financial advantage over Democrats at the last filing period. 4) Republicans say the district-by-district playing field favors them in several structural ways not reflected in national polls. 5) The get-out-the-vote machine designed by Rove and now-Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman in 2001 was dubbed the “72-hour” program, but officials say that’s quite a misnomer and that it’s really a 17-week or even two-year program.