My friend Scott Elliott runs Election Projection, one of the best political-prognostication sites you’ll find on the web. His latest analysis examines Republican chances to take the U.S. Senate in 2010. Scott calls the event “improbable” but not unthinkable. Read it here. The bottom line on the GOP’s challenge:

First, they’ll have to protect four vulnerable seats of their own (KY, MO, NH, OH). Next, they’ll have to take care of business in relatively easy Democratic states (ND, DE, AR, NV, PA, CO). Then, they’ll have to pull upsets in Illinois and California. And finally, they will be reliant on late entries to compete in four more states (IN, NY, WA, WI) and must win two of them.
It’s an unlikely road to 51 seats, and everything will need to go in the GOP’s favor to have a prayer. But the events that have transpired so far, from Brown’s victory to the decisions of Hoeven, Boozman, Biden, and Goodman, are what answered prayers are made of.