The battle for congress.

With all the focus on the race for the Presidency, he vital contests for the control of the House and the Senate have gone underreported.

In the few remaining days before the election, and on election night, here are some of the races you might want to keep an eye on.

First, the Senate.

Currently, Republicans hold a 51-48 advantage, with one independent, Jim Jeffords of Vermont.

"There is a clear path to the majority," said New Jersey Senator Jon Corzine, head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. "We have outmaneuvered, outrecruited Republicans."

There are thirty-four Senate races this fall, nineteen where Democrats currently hold seats and fifteen where the Republicans are in power. On the Democratic side, according to The Cook Political Report, twelve are solidly in the Democratic camp, five or six are tossups, and one (Zell Miller's seat, no loss there!) in Georgia is a goner. On the Republican side, eleven are solidly Republican, three are tossups, and Illinois is a gift (Barack Obama will vanquish Alan Keyes).

Here are some of the most contested battles:

Alaska

When Republican Senator Frank Murkowski became governor of Alaska in 2002, it was his job to fill his old seat. He filled it with his daughter. That's right: He appointed Lisa Murkowski to serve out the two years remaining in his term. Now she's facing a tough race against former Governor Tony Knowles.

"Only a fool would predict Knowles to win at this point," cautioned Larry J. Sabato, who runs the University of Virginia's Center for Politics. "He is a Democrat in a heavily Republican stare, and if Senator Murkowski carries a big burden on her shoulders (Dad), Knowles carries an even greater burden (John Kerry)."

Corzine said Knowles will win because "Alaska is a democracy, nor a dynasty."

Colorado

When Democrat-turned-Republican Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell gave his surprise announcement in March that he would not seek reelection, Colorado all of a sudden came into play. The Democrats have fielded a strong candidate in Ken Salazar, who was the state's leading vote-getter in his two successful runs for attorney general. A Latino, Salazar may benefit from higher than usual minority turnout in the state. For a contrast, he's facing Peter Coors, scion of the legendary rightwing beer family, who is tapping the family keg for this one.

Florida

As long as Bob Graham held this seat, the Democrats had a lock on it. Now the lock may be picked. Mel Martinez, Bush's former head of Housing and Urban Development, is running against former Florida Education Commissioner and former State Senator Betty Castor. Martinez is expected to boost the Latino vote not only for himself but for Bush.

"This is shaping up as one of the most important Senate contests in the nation--not just because of the Senate seat, but because of a kind of 'reverse coattail' that could affect the Presidential outcome in Florida and therefore the country," says Sabato on his website, www.centerforpolitics.org/crystalball. Castor was up 51-45 in a CNN/USA Today poll in mid-September.

Louisiana

This race is to replace Democratic Senator John Breaux, and it pits Republican Congressman David Vitter against two Democrats, State Treasurer John Kennedy and Congressman Chris John. To win the seat outright, one of the candidates must receive more than 30 percent of the vote. Otherwise, there will be a runoff. Some observers are concerned that the two Democrats will cancel each other out and that Vitter could squeak past the 50 percent mark. But Corzine said, "Louisiana has never elected a Republican Senator, and this isn't the year they will."

North Carolina 

Erskine Bowles, the nerdy, flinty former chief of staff for Bill Clinton, appears to be running ahead of five-term Congressman Richard Burr for John Edwards's seat. Burr didn't help himself when he bragged that he was taking the gloves off and that it was time for "skin to rip and blood to flow." Plus, the presence of Edwards on the Presidential ticket may help Bowles across the finish line. Says Steve Cobble, who was an adviser to Dennis Kucinich's Presidential campaign. "Edwards may not be able to save Kerry but he's likely to save Bowles."

Oklahoma

When Republican Senator Don Nickles retired, Democrats had a glimmer of hope here. They still do. The Republicans have put up a kooky rightwing physician and former Congressman named Tom Coburn to take on Congressman Brad Carson. "Coburn is kind of a cult hero in the conservative portion of our country, not just in Oklahoma," said Kirk Humphreys, who lost to him in the primary. "You can't get right of the guy."

Coburn, who says he favors "the death penalty for abortionists," calls this contest "a battle of good versus evil." Amazingly, Bush appointed him to be co-chair of the President's AIDS council, even though Coburn derides condom use and claimed at one point that "the gay community has infiltrated the very centers of power." Coburn is in trouble not only for his outrageous statements, however. A former patient, Angela Plummer, has come forward alleging that "Dr. Tom Coburn sterilized me without my consent." Coburn denies the charge, saying Plummer had requested that her tubes be tied. Plummer acknowledges that Coburn did save her life when she was bleeding from an ectopic pregnancy in 1990. This one has turned into a soap opera.

South Dakota

This may be the hottest of them all. Republicans are trying to take down Minority Leader Tom Daschle. And while Daschle was a huge disappointment on the USA Patriot Act and other issues, the campaign the Republicans are running against him is disgraceful.

Daschle's opponent, former Representative John Thune, got out the branding iron and all but called Daschle a traitor. Thune and his campaign have preyed on Daschle's comment in 2003 expressing sadness that Bush had "failed so miserably at diplomacy that we're now forced to war." The chairman of the state Republican Party wrote a fundraising letter saying that Daschle had "brought shame to the honor of his office, concern to our men and women in uniform, and comfort to America's enemies." Thune himself said, "His words embolden the enemy." Thune is also attacking Daschle for opposing a constitutional amendment banning flag desecration.

A statewide poll on September 26 showed Daschle with a 50-45 percent lead. But Republican money is for Responsive Politics, more money is being spent here than anywhere else except New York, with $19 million flowing into the race.

In the House, things look even tougher for Democrats. The Republicans currently hold 228 seats to the Democrats' 206. And because of the hanky-panky that Tom DeLay engaged in to redistrict Texas for Republicans, they are likely to pick up four or five more seats in that state alone. "The odds are the Republican majority will expand rather than contract," says Sabato, who calls the chances of the Democrats taking over a near-impossible feat."

Not everyone sees it that way.

"The more this election is seen as a referendum on Republican misrule the better the chances that the citizens will vote out the Republicans," says Roger Hickey, co-director of the Campaign for America's Future.

"We're going to gain ground," says Barney Frank, Democrat of Massachusetts. "If the undecideds break our way, we can take the House back."

But there just aren't that many races that are competitive. Here are a few of them:

Arizona

House freshman Republican Rick Renzi faces off against Paul Babbitt, the brother of Bruce, who was a former governor of this state and Secretary of the Interior in Clinton's cabinet. Renzi has a reputation as an arch-conservative. According to the National Journal, "In 2003, Representative Renzi voted more conservative on social policy issues than 95 percent of the Representatives." He scored 100 percent from the National Right to Life Committee and the Christian Coalition, and 0 percent from Planned Parenthood and the Leadership Council on Civil Rights. Babbitt, former mayor of Flagstaff, has been trailing in the polls.

Colorado

When Republican Congressman Scott McInnis retired from the Third Congressional District, the Democrats chose State Representative John Salazar to vie for the seat. John is the older brother of Ken, who is running for Senate, so on election night members of the Salazar family can chew the fingernails off of their left hands for John and their fight hands for Ken. John faces Greg Walcher, who was the former director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources. A poll in late September put Salazar up 52-40.

Kentucky

In the Fourth Congressional District, Democrat Ken Lucas gave up his seat. Geoff Davis, who lost to Lucas last time, is running against Democrat Nick Clooney, a local newscaster who happens to be the father of the actor George Clooney. "That's a tough district," says Barney Frank.

Louisiana

The race in the Third Congressional District is another one that Frank points to, noting that a longtime Republican wheeler-dealer, Billy Tauzin Jr., is retiring. Tauzin wants to hand the seat over to his son, Billy the Third, who is regional affairs director of Telecom. The leading Democrat in this open race is Charlie Melancon, who has large corporate credentials of his own. Melancon is president of the American Sugar Cane Association. Democrats may benefit from the bad blood in the Louisiana Republican Party over the nepotism charge. "I would rather jump from a bridge than back the younger Tauzin," said Collette Vizier, who resigned as deputy chair of the Republican Party State Central Committee. "The Third Congressional District is not a kingdom, Billy Tauzin Jr. was not the king, and therefore Billy Tauzin III is not the heir apparent. He's running only on his daddy's name."

Texas

Tom DeLay's fingerprints are all over the redistricted maps here. The result may be a defeat for Democratic Congressman Nick Lampson in the Second Congressional District. And thirteen-term Democrat Martin Frost, who was in the Twenty-fourth District, moved to the Thirty-second and is in a fight for his political life against Representative Pete Sessions. This is the most expensive House race in the country, with almost $6 million raised in total by September 20.

The outcomes in the House and Senate could be nearly as momentous as the result in the Presidential race. "It would be a huge step forward for the entire world if Tom DeLay could be retired from his leadership position by a Democratic majority in the House," says Steve Cobble. "And if, God forbid, Bush should win the election, it would be very nice to have a Democratic Senate majority to have some check over the legislative process."

Without that check, another four years of George Bush's messianic militarism, corporate giveaways, and civil liberties infringements would be almost too much for this country to bear. Should Kerry win, he would need the majority in at least one chamber to get anything accomplished legislatively. Otherwise, he would be left to wield the veto pen on all the backward bills that land on his desk.

The Republicans play for keeps. The ambition of Karl Rove and Dick Cheney is to have conservatives control political power for a generation. They believe this election affords them an opportunity to consolidate what they seized in 2000 and 2002. The last thing this country needs is for Bush to have a mandate for reactionary policies, and the means to carry them out.