This is an excerpt reprinted with permission from The Hagstrom Report, a news service providing original national and international agricultural news to its subscribers.
The Cook Political Report said this week it still believes that Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton will win the Electoral College in the presidential election, but it adjusted its ratings for five states toward Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and on Thursday adjusted two Senate ratings toward the Republican candidates.
The Cook Report said this week it sees Clinton winning 278 Electoral College votes (8 more votes than she needs to win) and Trump at 214 (56 short of 270).
But the report also moved Ohio and Arizona from “toss up” to “lean Republican,” North Carolina from “lean Democrat” to “toss-up” (but still “with a thumb on the scale for Clinton”), and Colorado and Michigan from “likely Democrat to lean Democrat.”
The Cook Report also moved the Senate race in Wisconsin between Republican Sen. Ron Johnson and former Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold to “toss up” and the Florida Senate race between Republican Sen. Marco Rubio and Democratic Rep. Patrick Murphy to “lean Republican.”
The report also reduced its estimate of Democratic gains within the Senate from five to seven to four to six. Even four seats would give the Democrats enough seats to control the body if Clinton wins the presidency and now-Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., becomes vice president with a tie-breaker vote in the upper chamber.
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