'World News' Political Insights -- Coast-to-Coast Strategy Positions GOP for Takeover

Oct. 31, 2010 — -- Republicans are entering the campaign's final stretch poised to sweep back into power in the House of Representatives, with historic gains likely to stem from a broad political strategy that's aligned itself with the national mood.

In the Senate, GOP chances of a takeover appear narrower than they did just weeks ago, although Republicans have put enough Democratic-held seats in play to make a power shift possible there as well.

Republicans have positioned themselves to take advantage of nation-wide voter anger, in part by being just about everywhere in the nation, in both House and Senate races.

There are 431 Republican House candidates on the ballot Tuesday; there are only 435 House districts total. In the Senate, a dozen Democratic-held seats are in play -- more than enough, though with little margin for error, for the GOP to have a shot at the 10 seats the party needs to take power.

Of course, the 100-plus House seats that are in play aren't distributed evenly. They fall into a few major categories that leave Republicans likely to take out some of the old, some of the new and several of the long-since blue.

Start with the new: The biggest chunk of Republican gains are set to come in the same districts that Democrats secured and then padded their majority with over the last two cycles.

Some 55 freshman and sophomore House Democrats are currently in competitive races, according to ABC News' race ratings.

The majority-makers are turning into the majority-breakers, with the vaunted attempts to recruit Democrats that reflect their districts running into the reality that their districts are essentially Republican.

Newer members of Congress have always been among the most vulnerable, since they are less-known political commodities with fewer opportunities to build campaign war chests and exercise real power.