Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is the head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Earlier this week, he held a briefing for reporters about the state of the most competitive Senate races in the country.

I could not attend the press conference because I was listening to Gen. David Petraeus, but later in the afternoon I talked to Schumer in a hallway in the Capitol for about two minutes to get his quick take on the Senate race.

I had heard from a colleague at another publication that Schumer did not put Maine's senate race in the top group of races and I asked him what he said at the press conference regarding Maine's senate race and why he did not include Maine's race in the top tier of Senate races.

Schumer said he broke the races into two tiers. The first tier included Virginia, Colorado, and New Mexico. Those are open seats where a GOP incumbent is retiring and polls show Democrats leading.

The second tier included Maine, Minnesota, New Hampshire and Oregon, the so-called "Blue" states where Republican incumbents face re-election. In those states, the Republican incumbent still leads.

I asked if he was pleased with Allen's campaign (not much of a question, but the elevator door was closing) and Schumer said yes. But then he added, "And he's an independent."

"Independent of what?"

"The President."

I guess it is no surprise there either that Allen and the DSCC strategy is to link Collins' voting record to President Bush.

Schumer and his Republican counterpart, Sen. John Ensign of Nevada, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, likely will have more press conferences as we get closer to November and hopefully there won't be a scheduling conflict.

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