Brookings Institution scholar Thomas Mann "projects the Democrats to pickup 25-35 House seats, and four to five Senate seats with a chance to maybe hit six," according to Thomas Schaller. "Alternatively, Mann said the chance of Democrats capturing the House are two in three, and put the capture of the Senate at 50:50. One lunch attendee whose very close friend happens to be a Republican pollster told him that his internal GOP numbers point to 26 House pickups and six Senate gains for the Democrats."

"In his remarks, Mann also cautioned Democrats to not let the GOP somehow turn the election into a prospective, future-oriented question, but to make it as much a retrospective assessment of Bush in the Republicans. (No shocker there.) He also said Democrats ought to not only figure out a way to make Iraq -- Bush's biggest liability -- into as big a liability as possible."

Last month in the Washington Post, Mann wrote "If history is any guide, we're heading into a major political storm. And that means we could see a national tide in November that will sweep the Democrats back into the majority."