By ADAM NAGOURNEY
c.2010 New York Times News Service
BURBANK, Calif. – If Republicans are to have a serious chance of capturing control of the U.S. Senate in November, they must win in traditionally Democratic states like California, where Sen. Barbara Boxer, a three-term Democrat, is showing signs of vulnerability.
But before Republicans get a clear shot at Boxer, they will have to overcome deep divisions within their own party – divides that reflect both the grass-roots energy surging through the conservative movement and the tensions between the party’s moderate and conservative wings.
There are certainly more vulnerable Democratic Senate seats in the country, but early polls in California suggest that Boxer is facing what could be the toughest election of her career. Her difficulties in a state that has for 20 years proved reliably Democratic in national elections suggests how the pendulum has swung against Democrats in just a year. Her potential problems are a function more of this political climate than of any position or vote she has taken.