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Wednesday, May 16, 2012 10:15 PM UTC

No sure thing for GOP: a tight battle for Senate

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Topics: From the Wires,

No sure thing for GOP: a tight battle for SenateFILE - In this May 15, 2012 file photo, Nebraska Democratic Senate candidate Bob Kerrey speaks in the Benson neighborhood in Omaha, Neb. It's encouraging news for Democrats: Divisive Republican primaries, a surprise GOP retirement in Maine and an unexpectedly strong Democratic challenger in North Dakota are making the battle for Senate control increasingly difficult to predict. Nearly half of all races appear competitive, an unusually high number. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik, File)(Credit: AP)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Divisive Republican primaries, an out-of-nowhere GOP retirement and an unexpectedly competitive race in North Dakota add up to an unpredictable battle for control of the Senate this fall. It’s confounding early forecasts that an era of Democratic rule was inevitably coming to an end.

Adding to the uncertainty, tea party-backed challengers are on the primary ballot against establishment candidates in New Mexico and Texas in coming weeks. That continues an internal Republican struggle that Democrats hope will aid them as it did in 2010.

Democrats now hold an effective 53-47 majority in the Senate, control that they and President Barack Obama can ill afford to lose. Republicans have repeatedly pushed their own legislation through the House in the past three years, only to have it blocked by the Democratic Senate.

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