Pindell Report: Pa. has more competitive congressional races than any other state

With six U.S. House races in play this fall, Pennsylvania has the largest number of competitive congressional races than any other state in the country, a new Politicker.com report shows.

The Pindell Report, which launched today, aims to provide the country's most dynamic and richly reported ranking and analysis of U.S. Senate, U.S. House and gubernatorial races, plus presidential swing states.

The report, named for Politicker.com Managing Editor James Pindell, shows that of the 435 U.S. House races nationwide six -- the 3rd, 4th, 6th, 8th, 10th and 11th district races -- are among the top 59 the report is tracking. Two of those races, the 11th and 10th, rank in the top 20 of races.

"Pennsylvania continues to be a key battleground for the control of Congress," said Pindell. "In many of these races we'll find out if the winners two years ago were a fluke or whether they will be in Congress for a long time to come."

As a presidential swing state, Pennsylvania is ranked as the 15th most-competitive and labeled as "Leans Democratic."

"If John McCain were to pick a running mate from Pennsylvania this race would immediately become more competitive," said Pindell. "But outside that this is a state that will likely go Democratic as it has every presidential election since 1988."

The non-partisan report ranks races in order of their competitiveness. Therefore the No. 1 race in the country is the most likely to be decided by one vote. The race ranked last is believed to have a larger margin of victory -- no matter if it is a Republican win or Democratic win. In determining competitiveness the reports takes into account polling, fundraising, past election data, demographic changes and interviews with the nation's top political strategists. The report also heavily uses Politicker.com's reporters out in the field covering these elections for the network's state-based websites. The rankings are evaluated daily ensuring rankings are current.

COMPLETE DETAILS:

• Pindell Report: U.S. Senate
• Pindell Report: U.S. House
• Pindell Report: Governor
• Pindell Report: Presidential Swing States
• About the Pindell Report