The Wash U. College Democrats blog is back in business following the summer vacation. Those of us with the College Dems hope all of you had a great summer vacation and we're looking forward to a good year. We have no illusions about our members' free time; the fall semester will likely be a lot of work for most of us. Still, we hope that many of you will devote some time to getting Democrats elected, especially Claire McCaskill, the Democratic Senate candidate for Missouri.

McCaskill is locked in a VERY tight battle with Republican incumbent Sen. Jim Talent. The polls have teetered back-and-forth over the summer, with McCaskill nursing a narrow lead at times, Talent leading at others.McCaskill has nursed a lead during most of the summer months. More recently, a substantial television ad buy by Talent has reduced his negatives and allowed him to pull even or slightly ahead of McCaskill. A recent USA Today/Gallup poll had Talent at 50 and McCaskill at 44 among likely voters, although the two were tied under registered voters. A more recent poll by Research 2000 for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, had McCaskill leading Talent by a single point. The Post-Dispatch elaborates:

U.S. Sen. Jim Talent's deluge of ad spending apparently has paid off.

The latest Research 2000 poll for the Post-Dispatch and KMOV-TV (Channel 4) found that Talent, R-Mo., has chipped away the edge held by his Democratic rival, state Auditor Claire McCaskill.

With a little more than two months left before Election Day, the two are in a statistical dead heat.

The Maryland-based firm's latest poll of 800 likely voters, conducted Monday through Thursday, found that 47 percent backed McCaskill and 46 percent supported Talent. Two percent supported Libertarian Frank Gilmour, while the remaining 5 percent were undecided.

McCaskill’s biggest liability is money. At last count, Talent had three times as much campaign money on hand as McCaskill. In her favor is the poor national and statewide climate for Republicans who are suffering due to the poor approval ratings for President Bush, for Congress, and for Republican Governor Matt Blunt (approval rating: 40%).

We’ll have a lot more on the Talent-McCaskill race over the coming weeks and months and we hope as many of you as possible will volunteer or donate to her campaign. This is a MUST-WIN seat for the Democrats. Simply put, if McCaskill does not win, the Democrats will not win back the Senate.

For those interested in learning more about McCaskill, here is her website (for those who missed the first link). Here is an interview she had with blogger Jonathon Singer of MyDD.com.