The rumors have been out there for a while: the DNC is apparently going to pump millions of dollars into New York to help take the Senate.

DNC chairman Howard Dean has made it a priority to help Democrats win down the ballot, so that if Obama wins the presidency, Democrats will have a larger majority in Congress. But with states planning to redistrict their congressional boundaries in 2012, control of state legislative chambers is all the more important, people close to Dean said.

In 2006, a last minute injection of $35 million from the DNC into House, Senate and state legislative races helped the party gain eight state legislative chambers.

Some of this year's cash could be sent to U.S. House races; most would be earmarked for races further down the ballot.
This year, having plucked the low-hanging fruit, Democrats have set their sights on tougher pulls, like New York's state senate. "It's the biggest toss-up on the map," says Matt Compton, a spokesperson for the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee.

Other targets for Democrats include: Ohio, Wisconsin, Delaware and the Texas House, where Democrats are five seats away from the majority; the Obama campaign has added organizers to help them.

Concurrently, Barack Obama may be spreading some of his staggering wealth as well.

With tens of millions more to spend than McCain, Obama has gone on the offensive in dozens of states, including several once considered long shots, such as North Carolina, Virginia and Missouri. He is running three television ads to every one aired by McCain, and he has built a massive operation to reach voters on Election Day.

The campaign has raised so much money that it is considering passing some along to Democratic Party committees to try to help grow the party's majorities in Congress, according to a campaign source.

Yes, that's a tsunami you're looking at.