71.  They are exactly the kind of voters who have transformed Alabama into a reliably Republican state in recent years.

72.  This has long been a rock-ribbed Republican state where it appears he should run well.

73.  Tobacco farmers and defense contractors have made Virginia a reliably Republican state for decades, but that barely proved true this year.

74.  Unexpectedly, this has proved to be a banner year for Democrats in what is usually the most reliably Republican state in the East.

75.  Utah is among the most reliably Republican states in the nation, and its voters are traditional and conservative.

76.  Virginia has long been a reliably Republican state in presidential elections, but Bob Dole struggled this year.

77.  Virginia has long been a reliably Republican state in presidential elections, but that may be changing.

78.  While Kansas is a largely Republican state, local officials in both parties said they could not remember so little competition against the Republican incumbents.

79.  While the GOP leadership represents solid Republican states, said Specter, he and other members are from states with close elections and divided electorates.

80.  Yet others here in Colorado, a heavily Republican state that supported Bush, expressed nothing more than election and courtroom fatigue.