The Senate’s top Republican is out with a sober assessment of his party’s chances for taking the chamber in November’s midterm elections, and he says “candidate quality” is a big factor. Speaking in Kentucky on Thursday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said: “I think there’s probably a greater likelihood the House flips than the Senate. Senate races are just different — they’re statewide, candidate quality has a lot to do with the outcome.” His comments were reported by NBC News and other outlets.
McConnell continued: “Right now, we have a 50-50 Senate and a 50-50 country, but I think when all is said and done this fall, we’re likely to have an extremely close Senate, either our side up slightly or their side up slightly.” McConnell did not name any names when discussing the quality of GOP candidates. Evercore ISI analyst Tobin Marcus said in a note on Friday that Democrats are now favored to win the Senate but still are in line to lose the House. He noted that in the four Senate contests that are most likely to be decisive — Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Nevada — “most of the Republican candidates are inexperienced and there have been persistently worrisome signs about their campaigns.” In Pennsylvania’s Senate race, the Cook Political Report on Thursday moved its rating to “lean Democrat” from “toss up,” as Republican Mehmet Oz struggles …