Democratic Win in November?

Sorry for the infrequent posting, but I've spent the last couple of months completely occupied with moving, computer viruses, and evaluating the wind power potential in Illinois.

It seems to me that there is a trend in the coverage of the upcoming election, and the way that the polls are conducted. Polls for individual races don't really show the Democrats have a clear advantage, so the focus has been on the "general ballot," asking who people would rather vote for, a Democrat or a Republican.

Is that type of poll really meaningful? If John Laesch is polling at 42% compared to Dennis Hastert's 52%, is it going to make any difference at all that 56% of Americans favor Democrats on a general Democrat/Republican ballot vs. 37% favoring Republicans? That's only a 10% difference between the candidates. Most races are not even that close.

I guess that I prefer the Democrats over the Republicans, but in all honesty, I can't say that I really prefer one over the other. If the Democrats are any less heartlessly imperialistic than the Republicans (and that is a very big IF), they more than make up for it with their spineless, self-serving partisianship. You don't see Republicans calling conservatives traitors if they vote Libertarian.