The Fix — Chris Cillizza’s Politics Blog on washingtonpost.com

As chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Schumer has watched the playing field for 2008 go from good – 22 Republicans up for re-election compared to just 12 Democrats – to great as four Republicans have decided against seeking re-election next fall.

Those developments have led some Democratic strategists to begin talking seriously — albeit privately — about the possibility of controlling 60 or more seats after next November — a filibuster-proof majority that would constitute real legislative control in the chamber. (The last time either party had a 60-seat majority was in the 95th Congress — 1977-1979 — when Democrats controlled 61 seats.)

The expected retirement announcement of Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M,) later today will only add fuel to that fire. Domenici joins Republican Sens. Wayne Allard (Colo.), Chuck Hagel (Neb.) and John Warner (Va.) on the sidelines in 2008 and each of the seats are likely to play host to competitive contests between the parties. Democrats are also heavily targeting incumbents in New Hampshire, Maine, Oregon, Minnesota and making noise about challenges in North Carolina, Tennessee, Alaska and others.

Schumer, for one, insists it is far too early to speculate about 60 seats. “Picking up nine seats you would have to have the miracle of miracles,” he said. “To pick up nine seats even under the best of circumstances is very, very difficult.” (For those Schumerologists out there — of which The Fix is one — this kind of rhetoric is similar to what the New York Senator was saying about retaking the majority at this point in the 2006 cycle.)