Just spoke to a former GOP Hill aide who has served longer with conservative Members than almost anyone else I know. He is a solid conservative who tends toward the pessimistic view of things but still. . . He thinks that there could be as few as 39 Republican Senators after next year’s elections. “If we’re lucky, we’ll lose only 9,” he says. Jeez. I haven’t been watching the races that are shaping up as closely as he has but disagree that the six seats he has emphatically written off are all goners: NH, MN, CO, NM, VA, NE. Again, wonderful guy who would never be mistaken for Little Mary Sunshine.