McConnell sees closely divided Senate coming

[July 09, 2012]  WASHINGTON (AP) -- Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell says the odds of Republicans taking over the Senate after November's elections and him becoming the new majority leader are "50-50."

The Kentucky senator says he expects "a very close, competitive election" in the battles for the 33 seats on ballots this fall.

McConnell is not predicting a sweep for Democrats or Republicans in the fall Senate elections. With 50 seats needed to take control, McConnell says "at the end of the day, we will have a very narrow Senate one way or the other."

There are currently 51 Democrats and 47 Republicans in the Senate. There are two independents, Bernie Sanders and Joe Lieberman, who align with Democrats.

The comments came Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union."

[Associated Press]

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