If Bodog.com oddsmakers are correct, the Republican Party will hold on to the majority in the U.S. Senate in the upcoming mid-term elections, but that majority will be held by the slimmest of margins.
Bodog posted odds on all 33 U.S. Senate races yesterday, and should every race go as oddsmakers are predicting, the Senate for the 110th Congress would be comprised of 50 Republicans, 48 Democrats and two others.
"Political betting is not only incredibly popular, but is also being seen by more and more observers as a new and highly accurate means of polling," says Bodog founder Calvin Ayre. "A customer must wager their hard-earned money to lay stake in the outcome of an event, making the end results just as accurate, if not more accurate, than traditional types of polling. After all, when money is on the line customers are more likely to bet with their heads than their hearts."
Republicans are favored in just nine of the 33 Senate races, while Democrats are favored in 22 races. Independent Bernie Sanders of Vermont is favored to take over for fellow independent Jim Jeffords, who is retiring, and while Connecticut incumbent Joe Lieberman lost the Democratic primary to Ned Lamont, he is favored to win the general election in the "Connecticut for Lieberman" party.
Fourteen Republican Senate seats are up for grabs, and Bodog is favoring Democrats in five of those races, while Democrats are favored to retain all but Lieberman's Connecticut seat.
Sheldon Whitehouse leads the charge for the Democrats as a 7.6:1 favorite to unseat incumbent Republican Lincoln Chafee in Rhode Island. Other Democrats looking to claim Republican seats include: Bob Casey, a 5:1 favorite over incumbent Rick Santorum in Pennsylvania; Jon Tester, a 2.3:1 favorite over incumbent Conrad Burns in Montana; Sherrod Brown, a 1.9:1 favorite to unseat Mike DeWine in Ohio; and Harold Ford, Jr., a 1.9:1 favorite to defeat Republican Bob Corker for Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's seat in Tennessee.
The Democrats also seem to be gaining momentum. In four of the five swing races, the Democrat become a bigger favorites overnight. The odds in the Tennessee race remained unchanged.
Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) are the heaviest favorites at 14:1.
