Donnelly getting noticed

As we've been saying for months, Joe Donnelly is doing great and he's finally getting noticed in the national press.

Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post has vaulted Joe Donnelly and the IN-2 from not being ranked all the way up to 6th in his latest Friday Line. Here's what he had to say:

No race has collapsed quicker for Republicans than this one, where Rep. Chris Chocola (R) finds himself in very serious trouble against 2004 Democratic nominee Joe Donnelly. The root of the incumbent's problems appears to be the unpopularity of the president and governor, but Chocola seems to have also taken his re-election for granted -- a cardinal sin for a Republican in this type of environment. Can Chocola come back? Republican strategists are very skeptical.

That's a bigger jump than any other race in his rankings with the exception of the crazy TX-22, Tom DeLay's old seat.

The IN-8 and IN-9 races were also featured in Chillizza's rankings. The IN-9 race dropped from 6th to 12th as Sodrel preps his dirty attacks that knocked out Baron Hill 2 years ago. In the IN-8 race, Chillizza raised the ranking from 10th to 5th citing Vanderburgh County Sheriff Brad Ellsworth nice ideological fit and Hostetler's poor campaigning skills.