The Fix

In the final "Fix Friday Line" in Chris Cilizza's Washington Post politics blog, Washington's 8th Congressional District race between Darcy Burner (D-Carnation) and Rep. Dave Reichert (R-Auburn) dropped from the 21st most likely seat to change hands to 34th.

Still, Cilizza called it a tough hold in a yera where dozens of GOP seats could change hands.

Politicker.com's Pindell Report, which ranks elections based on how close they are expected to be, currently has the Reichert-Burner race at #2 in the country among U.S. House races.

Washington's 8th Congressional District seat has moved from 24 to 21 in the monthly rankings of U.S. House seats most likely to change hands according to the Washington Post's political blog "The Fix".

The race is currently 27th in Politicker.com's Pindell Report.

Chris Cilizza, who ranks the seats, acknowledged Reichert's strengths, but wondered if it might not be  enough in an otherwise Democratic year.

See his take below.

In an early edition of the Washington Post's political blog The Fix's "Friday Line", Washington state ranked number two in the country in terms of governorships most likely to change parties this fall.

During the last set of rankings from The Fix, nearly a year ago, Washington was ranked third. Eleven states total are up for grabs in 2008.

Chris Cilizza, who ranks the races, touts Rossi's strong polling of late, but gives the caveat that a strong showing from Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama (D-Ill.) could keep the tide from turning.

See his analysis below.

After two cycles of being out of the rankings, Washington's 8th Congressional District has landed back on the Washington Post's The Fix blog's "Friday Line" of the nation's most competitive congressional races.

Chris Cilizza, who runs the line, cited what he felt was a fishy poll in the latest SurveyUSA tracking data to explain why he thought the race was closer than it appears.

Here is his brief recap of the state of the race:

There's almost no question that Rep. Dave Reichert's (R) Seattle-area district is moving away from his party. The question is how fast that movement is happening and whether Democrat Darcy Burner, who nearly beat Reichert in 2006, can finish the job this time around. A Survey USA poll conducted earlier this month had Reichert up 10 points but the extremely low number of undecided voters makes us a bit suspicious. (Previous ranking: N/A)

The 8th District Race is currently 6th on Politicker.com's Pindell Report.

U.S. Rep. Dave ReichertThe Washington Post's Chris Cillizza, whose "Friday Line" feature on his politics blog The Fix handicaps the U.S. House races most likely to change parties in the upcoming election every few weeks, today expanded from his usual top 10 up to 20 because of the current political climate.

"Democrats now appear well positioned to make double digit gains in the House -- 20 plus seats is not out of the question -- and, to reflect the widened playing field, The Fix is doubling the Friday House Line from 10 to 20 districts," Cillizza wrote.

That expanded jurisdiction allowed for one of Washington's top political races to get some Fix face time.