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The two words Republican Sen. Pat Roberts wanted Kansans to remember from his Wednesday night debate against Greg Orman were "liberal Democrat."

"Kansans know they have a choice to make. They can make a choice between a trusted conservative Republican with integrity or my opponent, who is a liberal Democrat who still wont shoot straight," Roberts, who's running for his fourth term, said at the outset of the debate.

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The Kansas Republican tells CBS News congressional correspondent Nancy Cordes that if he wins in November against independent candidate Greg Orma...

Faced with an unexpectedly robust challenge from Orman, a businessman running as an independent, Roberts is doing everything he can to convince voters that Orman isn't really an independent by tying him to President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada. Only a vote in his favor would result in a Republican majority, he argued.

"[Orman] ran against me as a Democrat in 2008 and he gave contributions, $174,000 to Hillary Clinton, to Barack Obama, and yes, even Harry Reid," Roberts said. "By deed and by word and by campaign contribution he cannot stand up to the Reid-Obama agenda."

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Greg Orman, an independent Senate candidate from Kansas, tells CBS News' Nancy Cordes how he'll decide which party to caucus with if he wins.

That's the argument Roberts has made for weeks, although Orman hasn't made it easy to prove: he refuses to say which party he would caucus with if elected to the Senate, and says that both parties are responsible for the gridlock in Washington. But he did accuse Roberts of "making up facts" about his political donations.

"Tonight, Senator Roberts is going to tell you that President Obama and Harry Reid are the reason Washington's such a mess and you know what? He's half right," Orman said before Roberts even launched the first attack.

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Is Greg Orman a liberal Democrat? Sen. Pat Roberts thinks so

Sen. Mary Landrieu greets candidates Rep. Bill Cassidy (left) and Rob Maness after Tuesday's debate. Most observers don't see how Landrieu can pull enough support to avoid a runoff in the state's open primary. Gerald Herbert/AP hide caption

Sen. Mary Landrieu greets candidates Rep. Bill Cassidy (left) and Rob Maness after Tuesday's debate. Most observers don't see how Landrieu can pull enough support to avoid a runoff in the state's open primary.

Listening to Sen. Mary Landrieu's opponents, you might think President Obama was up for re-election. Tuesday night in Shreveport, the three candidates faced off in a debate for the first time.

Democrat Landrieu is waging hard-fought battle for re-election in a race that could help decide which party has control of the U.S. Senate. Republican Rep. Bill Cassidy and a Tea Party candidate, Rob Maness, are her main challengers in Louisiana's open primary on Nov. 4.

At the debate, whether the question was about fighting terrorism or curtailing student debt, Cassidy managed to tie Landrieu to the nation's top Democrat and her vote for his signature health care plan.

"We need a better economy than the Obama and the Obamacare economy. Sen. Landrieu, when she voted for Obamacare essential vote in a sense put a wet blanket over that economy," he said.

Cassidy is a physician from Baton Rouge, and is Landrieu's top challenger. He wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which he claims is costing consumers. "Clearly this is the unaffordable health care act," he said.

Landrieu defends her vote for the law, but says it needs some tweaks. The three-term incumbent Democrat would rather talk about positions that distinguish her from the president her support for the Keystone pipeline, and for expanding domestic energy production, for instance and that are popular in a state where the oil and gas industry dominates.

Landrieu, chair of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, wants to make the race more about how her seniority can help the state.

"While President Obama is not on the ballot, the future of Louisiana is, and electing a senator that can get the job done when it comes to energy, building a middle class in our country and in Louisiana. Using my influence and my clout, which is really the people's influence and the people's clout in Louisiana," she said.

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In Increasingly Red Louisiana, Democrat Landrieu Struggles To Hold On

DeFranco

Sun staff photos can be ordered by visiting our SmugMug site.

LOWELL -- Democrat Marisa DeFranco endorsed Republican Congressional nominee Richard Tisei Wednesday, rather than Democratic party nominee Seth Moulton, who defeated her in the Democratic primary race for the 6th Congressional District last month.

DeFranco finished third in that five-way race, with 4,293 votes to Moulton's 36,575.

"I'm a common-sense person, a common-sense Democrat, and Richard is a common-sense Republican," DeFranco told The Sun Wednesday. "The two issues that I really care about, small business and immigration, his positions agree with mine. I know that he has a history of putting principal above party."

Moulton's campaign had little to say about the endorsement.

"In the primary, Seth was accused of being a Republican. Turns out it was actually Marisa DeFranco," Moulton's Communications Director Carrie Rankin said in response.

Tisei also drew the endorsement of Lynn Mayor Judy Kennedy on Tuesday, one of the major cities in the 6th District, which also includes Gloucester, Newburyport, Peabody and Salem, as well as the Middlesex County communities of Bedford, Billerica, Burlington, Tewksbury and Wilmington.

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In 6th District, a Democrat endorses a Republican

Marisa DeFranco

Sun staff photos can be ordered by visiting our SmugMug site.

LOWELL -- Democrat Marisa DeFranco endorsed Republican Congressional nominee Richard Tisei Wednesday, rather than Democratic party nominee Seth Moulton, who defeated her in the Democratic primary race for the 6th Congressional District last month.

DeFranco finished third in that five-way race, with 4,293 votes to Moulton's 36,575.

"I'm a common sense person, a common sense Democrat, and Richard is a common sense Republican," DeFranco told The Sun Wednesday. "The two issues that I really care about, small business and immigration, his positions agree with mine. I know that he has a history of putting principal above party."

Moulton's campaign had little to say about the endorsement.

"In the primary, Seth was accused of being a Republican. Turns out it was actually Marisa DeFranco," Moulton's communications director Carrie Rankin said in response.

Tisei also drew the endorsement of Lynn Mayor Judy Kennedy on Tuesday, one of the major cities in the 6th District, which also includes Gloucester, Newburyport, Peabody and Salem, as well as the Middlesex County communities of Bedford, Billerica, Burlington, Tewksbury and Wilmington.

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In the 6th District, a Democrat endorses a Republican

Washington The battle for control of the US Senate is getting messier thanks to tightening races in Georgia and New Hampshire.

New polls show an underdog Democrat in the South and an underdog Republican in New England close on the heels of the favorites in the two states.

These races have become tighter since September, the polls find, even as more than half a dozen other Senate races are too close to call. For now at least, uncertainty seems to be widening rather than diminishing as Election Day gets closer.

In Georgia, a poll taken from Oct. 2 to 6 finds Democrat Michelle Nunn trailing Republican David Perdue by just one percentage point, whereas most September polls showed Mr. Perdue with a lead of three points or more. The two are competing for an open seat, vacated by GOP Sen. Saxby Chambliss.

In New Hampshire, where incumbent Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D) was leading in one late-September poll by seven points and in another by 10, the most recent polls show the spread at a narrower two, three, or six points (depending on the poll). Shes being challenged by former US Sen. Scott Brown (R), who has migrated to the Granite State from liberal Massachusetts in search of a political reboot.

Republicans need a net gain of six seats to take charge of the Senate. A Brown upset in New Hampshire could count as one of those seats.

Or, if Senator Shaheen holds firm in New Hampshire and Ms. Nunn overtakes Perdue, Republicans would have a steeper climb, needing to gain seven seats rather than six.

What has happened to make these two states more competitive?

Nunn may be gaining some traction by playing up Perdues role in sending US manufacturing jobs overseas during his business career. And Mr. Brown has blasted Shaheen as soft on national defense and in alignment with President Obama on that score while making his own name better known in door-to-door campaigning.

If the underdogs have shown some new strength, though, another factor may simply be the inherent variability in polling. Its hard to know which polls best reflect the people who will actually vote on Nov. 4.

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How did Senate races in Georgia, New Hampshire become too close to call?