GOP to donors: Democratic Senate majority is in serious trouble — MSNBC

The National Republican Senatorial Committee is making the case to top donors and senators in a new memo obtained by NBC News that a GOP majority is within their grasp.

Republicans have gotten two good bits of news lately, bolstering their path forward in 2014. First, that former Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer won’t run in the Montana open seat, giving the GOP an even better path to pick up the seat, though both sides still have thin benches. But with Schweitzer’s decision, Republicans have an increasingly plausible way forward to the majority, as we noted last week in our new Senate rankings.

And in Maine, GOP Sen. Susan Collins shot down speculation that she was interested in becoming the next secretary of Homeland Security–a relief to Republicans who knew that an open seat in Maine, where President Obama won by more than 15 points last year, would be difficult to hold.

In their memo sent this week to Republicans senators and donors, NRSC executive director Rob Collins writes that Schweitzer’s news was another benefit for them in an open seat, with Democrats still searching for strong recruits in South Dakota and West Virginia open seats, along with needing to defend Democratic incumbents sitting in red states, including Mark Pryor in Arkansas, Mark Begich in Alaska, Mary Landrieu in Louisiana, and Kay Hagan in North Carolina.

And in Georgia, where a messy GOP primary is shaping up, Democrat Michelle Nunn, daughter of former Sen. Sam Nunn, is expected to announce her candidacy soon.

Collins wrote that he knows both Grimes and Nunn will be well-financed, but argued that “every single dollar that Democrats pour into the Bluegrass state is a dollar that will not be used to save Mark Pryor or Mary Landrieu.  Every dollar that Democrats use to entice Michelle Nunn is a dollar that Kay Hagan and Mark Begich will not have. After what many pundits and even Democrats called, one of ‘the worst rollouts ever,” does anyone really believe that Alison Lundergan Grimes is worth a $26 million investment?”

via GOP to donors: Democratic Senate majority is in serious trouble — MSNBC.