There’s blood in the water for Republicans. Adam Nagourney of the New York Times has a piece this morning outlining the Republicans’ new strategy for 2006: stop the bleeding! Republicans have historically had the financial advantage leading up to elections and this has allowed them to stay competitive and fight for all seats throughout the country.

While they still have the financial edge, it seems that the GOP is looking to cut its losses and and stop the Democratic onslaught. This strategy will most likely have a significant impact on Sherrod Brown in Ohio where he is beginning to pull away from Senator Mike DeWine.

From the NYTimes:

Senior Republican leaders have concluded that Senator Mike DeWine of Ohio, a pivotal state in this year’s fierce midterm election battles, is likely to be heading for defeat and are moving to reduce financial support for his race and divert party money to other embattled Republican senators, party officials said.

The decision to effectively write off Mr. DeWine’s seat, after a series of internal Republican polls showed him falling behind his Democratic challenger, is part of a fluid series of choices by top leaders in both parties as they set the strategic framework of the campaign’s final three weeks, signaling, by where they are spending television money and other resources, the Senate and House races where they believe they have the best chances of success.

Republicans are now pinning their hopes of holding the Senate on three states — Missouri, Tennessee and, with Ohio off the table, probably Virginia — while trying to hold on to the House by pouring money into districts where Republicans have a strong historical or registration advantage, party officials said Sunday. Republicans also said they would run advertisements in New Jersey this week to test the vulnerability of Senator Robert Menendez, one of the few Democrats who appear endangered.

To read the rest of the NYTimes article click here.

This thing is FAR from over and now is the time to get to work to ensure that Democrats capitalize on this momentum.