In the Mountain State's three-member House delegation, only Democrat Alan Mollohan, who faced ethics difficulties about the distribution of federal grants to charities close to him and his family, appeared to be threatened, though recent polls show him winning relatively handily.

It's time to start watching the Ohio race for Senate, which joins Virginia now among the two most closely monitored Senate results. Late polls gave the overwhelming edge to Democrat Sherrod Brown, a representative from a relatively rural district in eastern Ohio, over two-term incumbent Republican Sen. Mike DeWine. On the House side, the key races are in the Cincinnati area (again in that pesky, competitive Ohio River Valley), where aggressive Democratic campaigns are threatening incumbents Jean Schmidt and Steve Chabot. Also up for grabs is the eastern Ohio seat held by Republican Bob Ney, who last month pleaded guilty to corruption charges in the Jack Abramoff scandal and eventually resigned from Congress.

In the Tarheel State, two GOP incumbents faced stiff challenges. The most closely watched is the western district that borders Tennessee, Georgia, and South Carolina. Eight-termer Charles Taylor is up against Heath Shuler, a conservative Democrat who had a short-lived career as a quarterback for the Washington Redskins and is looking for a more triumphal return to the nation's capital. The very wealthy Taylor, whose high-ranking position on the Appropriations Committee has been both a boon and led to controversy, has recently taken about 55 percent of the vote.