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Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers is one of the most powerful politicians in America. She's the top-ranking woman in the House GOP, and her political ambitions and trajectory have been debated everywhere from Capitol Hill to the pages of Glamour magazine. But when she walks into locally owned businesses like Maid Naturally in Spokane, Wash., she's just Cathy.

In the final week before the election, she stopped by the Spokane-based cleaning business and sits down to chat with co-founders Ruthanne Eberly and Heather Brown. McMorris Rodgers puts them at ease quickly, and before long the three women are swapping stories about what it's like to balance family and work.

"Do you have some tips now as to how to keep employees longer?" McMorris Rodgers asks the pair, who launched their business together in 2006. Since then they've expanded, moving from working out of their homes to a larger space.

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Eberly and Brown agree that keeping their employees around, especially in a business where people tend to come and go, comes down to building strong relationships.

That's something McMorris Rodgers understands. She's built a career on it.

"I find myself reminding people that Congress is also built on relationships," she tells them. "It's about building relationships. It's like anything you do in life, and you have to make that a priority."

McMorris Rodgers has a few priorities: Representing Eastern Washington in the House — a job she's held for a decade — and heading up the House Republican Conference where she is one of just 19 women.

The 45-year-old also has three young children. Her 1-year-old daughter flew cross-country with her during her most recent trip back to Spokane.

"I was single when I was elected, then I got married," she tells Eberly and Brown. "So I kind of eased into it. Got used to the business up-front, then I got married, added the kids."

This is how McMorris Rodgers connects with the women she meets on the trail, the very people her party needs to attract. She's down-to-earth, folksy even, and she makes everything personal.

But she is also politically savvy.

McMorris Rodgers says she never dreamed she'd be in politics herself, but she was appointed to the Washington statehouse at the age of 25. She went on to beat two members of the leadership to become the state's first female minority leader. Then, she decided to run for Congress.

"I just decided I was going to muster up all the courage I had, be a risk-taker, go see what I could do," she says.

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First elected to Congress in 2004, McMorris Rodgers is set to easily win re-election to a sixth term. But she's not taking that for granted. All in one day this week, she participated in a debate with Democrat Joe Pakootas, visited local businesses, chatted with eighth graders at a middle school and fired up a Republican women's group.

She often brings up her roles as a wife and mother while campaigning, saying the challenges she faces are just like any other working mom in America. But she bristles at the notion that she's "window dressing" for a party trying to refresh its brand.

"That's what the critics like to suggest," she says when asked about the public debate over whether her rise is simply because she's a woman. "Even when I was asked to give the response to the State of the Union this year, there were some that immediately started saying 'Well, it's only because she was a woman' versus that I was someone who could really connect with people or that I could deliver an effective message on behalf of the Republicans."

McMorris Rodgers says she wants to see more women run — and get elected — to Congress. That's why she's taken on a leadership role, raising money for female Republicans and mentoring them, too.

"So many women have never even considered running for office themselves. They think that's something someone else does," she says.

McMorris Rodgers says she knows what that's like. Before she decided to run for Congress, she'd been thinking about getting out of politics.

Now, a decade later, she says she doesn't want to be a "seat warmer." She wants to maximize her opportunities and her influence.

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She chose not to enter the race to be House Republican whip after Eric Cantor, who was defeated in a primary, chose to leave his leadership post. She says she's excited for another year serving as GOP conference chair.

But there appears to be a path open for McMorris Rodgers. The question is: does she want it?

Asked point-blank what her next chapter looks like, she says "we'll see."

"One thing about serving in Congress, it kind of comes in these two-year chunks," she says. "For the next Congress, I'm seeking to continue to serve as conference chair. And we'll see what other opportunities come. So much of that is being the right person at the right time."

If you've enjoyed the battle for control of the Senate over the past many months, here's some good news: the drama could well spill over into next month – or even next year.

While Republicans are increasingly optimistic — and Democrats, pessimistic — about their prospects Tuesday, there are plausible scenarios that could have America waiting well beyond Nov. 4 to know which party will have a Senate majority.

Alaska is a key state for Republican hopes for a takeover and is also potentially a close race, meaning the result of its election "night" might not be clear until all the ballots in the far-flung state are tallied. "Alaska could take a week or more to get their votes in," said Justin Barasky, spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

Even with Alaska settled, there's still the matter of Louisiana and Georgia. Both states require a runoff election if no candidate wins a majority on Election Day, and polling suggests runoffs are more likely in those states than not.

Louisiana's runoff would be Dec. 6, but Georgia's runoff isn't until Jan. 6. That would be three days after the start of the new Congress on Jan. 3.

Apart from the prospect of both parties focusing massive television ad campaigns and voter turnout drives on just two states, the timing raises this unusual prospect: Kentucky GOP Senator Mitch McConnell rising to Senate majority leader – for exactly one day, before losing it back to Democratic Leader Harry Reid.

It's a longshot, but it's not completely far-fetched. For it to happen, Republicans would have to have a disappointing election night, yet wind up on New Year's Day with a 50-49 advantage with the Georgia runoff outstanding. [McConnell also has to win re-election, of course.]

The Constitution says each new Congress is to begin on Jan. 3, but with it falling on a Saturday next year, leaders will more than likely agree to push it to Jan. 5 or 6. The senators would convene, get sworn in to their terms but what happens next wouldn't be known until polls closed in Georgia on the evening of Jan. 6.

At that point, if Republican David Perdue has won, McConnell would have 51 senators and become majority leader. But if Democrat Michelle Nunn were to win, the 50-50 tie would give the deciding vote to Democratic Vice President Joe Biden – and the majority leader title back to Reid.

Republicans are confident that their candidates will prevail in both runoffs, should it come to that, because their supporters are more used to turning out, even in typically low-turnout contests like runoffs.

2014 elections

Battle for the Senate 2014

If you've enjoyed the battle for control of the Senate over the past many months, here's some good news: the drama could well spill over into next month – or even next year.

While Republicans are increasingly optimistic — and Democrats, pessimistic — about their prospects Tuesday, there are plausible scenarios that could have America waiting well beyond Nov. 4 to know which party will have a Senate majority.

Alaska is a key state for Republican hopes for a takeover and is also potentially a close race, meaning the result of its election "night" might not be clear until all the ballots in the far-flung state are tallied. "Alaska could take a week or more to get their votes in," said Justin Barasky, spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

Even with Alaska settled, there's still the matter of Louisiana and Georgia. Both states require a runoff election if no candidate wins a majority on Election Day, and polling suggests runoffs are more likely in those states than not.

Louisiana's runoff would be Dec. 6, but Georgia's runoff isn't until Jan. 6. That would be three days after the start of the new Congress on Jan. 3.

Apart from the prospect of both parties focusing massive television ad campaigns and voter turnout drives on just two states, the timing raises this unusual prospect: Kentucky GOP Senator Mitch McConnell rising to Senate majority leader – for exactly one day, before losing it back to Democratic Leader Harry Reid.

It's a longshot, but it's not completely far-fetched. For it to happen, Republicans would have to have a disappointing election night, yet wind up on New Year's Day with a 50-49 advantage with the Georgia runoff outstanding. [McConnell also has to win re-election, of course.]

The Constitution says each new Congress is to begin on Jan. 3, but with it falling on a Saturday next year, leaders will more than likely agree to push it to Jan. 5 or 6. The senators would convene, get sworn in to their terms but what happens next wouldn't be known until polls closed in Georgia on the evening of Jan. 6.

At that point, if Republican David Perdue has won, McConnell would have 51 senators and become majority leader. But if Democrat Michelle Nunn were to win, the 50-50 tie would give the deciding vote to Democratic Vice President Joe Biden – and the majority leader title back to Reid.

Republicans are confident that their candidates will prevail in both runoffs, should it come to that, because their supporters are more used to turning out, even in typically low-turnout contests like runoffs.

2014 elections

Battle for the Senate 2014

It's crunch time for campaign workers across the country. With the midterm elections just one day away, Republicans and Democrats are scrambling to turn out every possible vote.

President Obama spent the weekend rallying supporters in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Connecticut.

The last-minute swing was unusual for a president who's kept a relatively low profile on the campaign trail this year. But whether he wants to or not, Obama is playing an outsized role in shaping the political landscape.

The rock-star rallies of years past are a distant memory. But President Obama can still energize die-hard Democrats. He delivered a pre-election pep talk in Bridgeport, Conn., where Democratic Governor Dan Malloy is locked in a tight battle for re-election.

"Make some phone calls," Obama began. "Knock on some doors. Grab everybody you know. Get them out to vote. Don't stay home. Don't let somebody else choose your future for you."

This year many Democratic candidates find their future is in somebody else's hands — namely Barack Obama's.

Handicapper Nathan Gonzales of the Rothenberg Political Report says Obama's sagging popularity is casting a long shadow over his fellow Democrats.

"If the president's job approval rating was 5 or 10 points better, I think we'd be talking about a very different election," Gonzales says.

There was a moment, during the government shutdown last year, when it seemed as if this year's midterms might be a referendum on congressional Republicans. But then came the disasterous rollout of the government's health insurance website.

Gonzales says that was followed by a steady drip, drip, drip of problems for the president at home and abroad, including mismanagement of VA hospitals, Russia's takeover of Crimea and the rise of the Islamic State also known as ISIS.

"I think right now we've reached a point in the president's term where voters are skepitcal," Gonzales says. "I don't think they're giving him the benefit of the doubt any more."

That's created a toxic environment for Obama's fellow Democrats, no matter how much they try to distance themselves from the president.

"I'm not Barack Obama. I disagree with him on guns, coal, and the EPA," says Democratic Senate candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes, who's challenging Mitch McConnell in Kentucky.

Grimes refused to even say whether she voted for Obama. But even as Democrats try to assert their independence from the president, Republicans have tarred them with a broad Obama brush.

Obama himself unwittingly played into Republican hands, with a speech in Illinois last month that gave Democratic stategists fits.

"I'm not on the ballot this fall," Obama said. "Michelle's pretty happy about that. But make no mistake these policies are on the ballot."

Many of the issues Obama was talking about — such as raising the minimum wage, pay equity, and immigration overhaul — are more popular than he is. But by suggesting Democratic Senate candidates would be carrying water for his agenda, Obama made their campaign challenge that much harder.

Democrats have tried to counter the president's low approval numbers by highlighting unpopular positions of their Republican opponents, such as support for personhood amendments that would outlaw some forms of birth control. But unlike years past, when some Republicans made it easy for Democrats to paint them as extremists, political analyst Gonzales says this year, the GOP has largely managed to avoid self-inflicted wounds.

"As a whole, Republicans have managed to stay out of the spotlight and keep the spotlight on President Obama," Gonzales says. "And that's the way they'll have a better midterm election."

To be sure, Republicans always had some built-in advantages this year. Most of the contested Senate races are in deeply red states. And Democratic voters are traditionally less reliable in non-presidential years. The political playing field could be very different two years from now. But Gonzales warns unless Obama is able to win back some skeptical voters, some of the same headwinds Democrats face this fall could still be blowing in 2016.

"If the president leaves office with 40 percent job approval rating, maybe a bit lower, I think that opens the door for any number of Republican candidates to win. If the president leaves office with 45, creeping closer to 50 percent job approval rating, I'm not sure there's a Republican in this country who could win that type of race," Gonzales says.

Both parties will soon be looking ahead to that presidential contest, and deciding whether it's to their advantage to keep highlighting differences or find some areas where they can work together.