The Hill News

Democrats are capable of overcoming a tough electoral map in their 2012 Senate races, their outgoing campaign chief said Tuesday.

Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), the 2010 chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), pointed to his party's relative success this cycle versus historical precedent as an indicator of possible success in two years.

"I just look at this cycle and say, between midterm election history, in which the president's party loses seats; between the reality of $65 million in independent expenditures being spent against our Senate Democratic candidates; and 80 years of history where, since 1930, whenever the House of Representatives has flipped from one party to another, the Senate has â€" this time it didn't happen," Menendez said on MSNBC. "So the reality is we can beat history and we can do that again in 2012."

Democrats will have to defend 23 seats next cycle, many of them in centrist or Republican-l! eaning states, while Republicans will only have to defend 10 seats, many of them in favorable states. The daunting map facing the next DSCC chairman has made it difficult for the party to find a new senator to succeed Menendez.

The New Jersey senator, who faces his own reelection campaign in 2012, warned colleagues that much could change to affect the dynamics of that race over the next two years.

"I think two years is an eternity," Menendez said. "And, of course, you'll have presidential elections playing part of all of the dynamics of that race in 2012."