Decisive battles

Politics | Only a handful of races will determine which party controls the House for the next two years | John Dawson

Out of the 435 House races this November, only about 65 should be competitive. An election season in which 85 percent of incumbents should coast to victory may not sound exciting. But compared to previous years, 2006 may be as topsy-turvy as they come. That's good news for Democrats hoping to gain control of the House. They need to win just 15 seats to install Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) as speaker of the House and take back control of that side of Congress for the first time in 12 years. Can the Democrats do it? A lot depends on how they fare in these 10 crucial races:

Note: Cook Rating is the forecast for the race as judged by elections guru Charlie Cook as of Sept. 20. PVI indicates the Partisan Voting Index, a measure Cook uses to determine the temperature of each House district. A PVI of R+1 indicates the district voted 1 percentage point higher for Bush in 2000 and 2004 than the national average. D+5 would indicate a district that voted for Gore or Kerry at an average of 5 points higher than the national average.