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WASHINGTON — Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-MD, briefed reporters last week on the chances of Democrats picking up additional congressional seats in November.

Alaska ranked high among the solidly red states where Schumer and Van Hollen hope to make inroads.

Schumer, chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said public polling shows Democrats up in five of the 17 GOP-held seats he is targeting this year.

“We are challenging Republicans in 17 states,” he said. “We’re ahead in five of those 17, including Alaska.”

Schumer said Democrats have a strong challenger to Republican Sen. Ted Stevens in Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich.

Begich has formed an exploratory committee and has been traversing the state to gauge voter support for a possible Senate bid, but has yet to declare his candidacy.

Schumer said he’s confident Begich will file for the Senate race prior to the June 2 deadline.

“At this point we believe he is planning on running,” Schumer said.

Begich welcomed Schumer’s endorsement but said he wouldn’t be rushed into making a decision before the end of April.

“I appreciate his enthusiastic support, but at the end of the day it’s an important decision for me and my wife to make,” Begich said Thursday in a telephone interview.

Begich said he’s been pleasantly surprised by the response to his exploratory campaign, especially in the rural areas of the state. He said he initially had concerns Alaskans would be overly focused on local issues, but he said there’s a real understanding of how national issues, such as health care and rising energy costs, impact local communities.

“That’s been the most refreshing part of the discussions,” Begich said. “I want to make sure the issues I care about are what they care about.”

Begich’s exploratory committee brought in donations from 915 Alaskans, totaling almost $260,000 in the first quarter of this year, according to his campaign spokeswoman Heather Rauch.

“All the positive feedback is a good indication of what I’ll do,” Begich said.

Tim McKeever, spokesman for the Stevens campaign, said the senator raised about $540,000 in the first quarter.

Despite his bulging campaign war chest, Democrats believe Stevens, who has been in the Senate since 1968, is vulnerable this election cycle because of the ongoing federal investigation into his ties to lobbyists. Stevens denies any wrongdoing and has not been charged with a crime.

The latest Rasmussen telephone survey finds Stevens essentially even with Begich. Stevens currently attracts 46 percent of the vote, while Begich earns 45 percent.

Rasmussen put Stevens’ favorable ratings at 50 percent overall and just 42 percent among the all-important unaffiliated voters. Among Republicans, Stevens receives 71 percent of the vote. Some 47 percent of voters across the state have a negative view of Stevens.

Begich received 78 percent of the vote among Democrats and he has a 22 percent lead among unaffiliated voters. Begich earned favorable reviews from 56 percent of those polled, while just 35 percent have an unfavorable opinion. The survey has a margin of error of 4.5 percent.

Rebecca Fisher, spokeswoman for the National Republican Senatorial Campaign, said it was a stretch for Schumer to say Democrats were leading in the Alaska Senate race.

“Schumer would like nothing more than to have the trophy on his wall for being the one who knocked off the longest-serving Republican in the Senate,” Fisher said. “I think that’s why he’s so focused on Alaska.”

The NRSC is confident Stevens can hold on to the seat, Fisher said.

“We’re certainly watching this race and are giving Stevens any help he may need to win re-election,” she said. “But it’s going to take a lot more for Schumer to knock him off than a local mayor announcing he’s formed an exploratory committee.”

In all, Schumer is focusing on 17 of the 23 Republican-held Senate seats on the ballot this year.

Schumer said Americans’ relationship to government is changing and predicted the contest in November would be a “tectonic” election, prompting a shift in the political composition of Congress similar to the 1932 and 1980 elections, when voters handed a significant majority to the opposing party.

Senate Democrats have only a slight advantage in numbers — 51 to 49 — thanks to independents Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who regularly vote with them.

Schumer said if Democrats can’t expand their majority, they’ll have to scale back their agenda. He declined to predict how many seats he expected Democrats to pick up, but said it most likely would not reach a filibuster-proof 60.

Democrats are likely to pick up three to seven seats in the Senate, according to the Cook Political Report.

Democrats hold a 233-198 majority over Republicans in the House of Representatives. There are also four vacant seats in the House up for grabs.

Van Hollen, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, believes Democrats can capture as many as 50 House seats from the GOP, including 29 seats held by Republicans who are retiring this year.

In all, Democrats have more than 75 seats either to defend or contest, Van Hollen said.

Both Democratic campaign committees are ahead of their Republican counterparts in fundraising, but Van Hollen said they are still watching to see how the dogfight over the Democratic presidential nomination impacts donor generosity.

“The only problem we see is if the Democratic primary gets extremely divisive,” Van Hollen said.

Schumer and Van Hollen said they’re also concerned that individual Democrats could be targeted by conservative 527 political action groups and other special interest groups. So-called 527 groups are less regulated by campaign finance laws and can affect debate on one or more issues.

The DCCC is hoping to dedicate a majority of its money to going after vulnerable GOP seats in the general election, rather than defending freshmen lawmakers, Van Hollen said.

While the DCCC doesn’t dole out endorsements until after the primary, Van Hollen plugged former state House Minority Leader Ethan Berkowitz as the likely Democratic nominee to challenge Republican Don Young for Alaska’s lone House seat.

“Ethan Berkowitz is a very strong candidate,” Van Hollen said. “He’s a very hard worker and he’s done very well fundraising and putting together a strong campaign.”

Berkowitz, who raised about $277,000 in the first quarter, must first best fellow Democrats Jake Metcalfe and Diane Benson in the August 26 primary.

Benson reported raising about $47,000 in the first three months of the year. Metcalfe has not yet released his first-quarter fundraising totals.

Regardless of who comes out on top in the Democratic primary, they stand a good chance of unseating Young, Van Hollen said.

“We think that Don Young’s record is not one that’s going to be attractive to Alaskans,” he said. “I think Young is in real trouble and he knows it.”

Young is under federal investigation for his use of earmarks and ties to lobbyists. He denies any wrongdoing and has not been charged with a crime.

Julie Shutley, spokeswoman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, said Young’s record of service to the state speaks for itself.

“Don Young has been a tireless advocate for the people of Alaska,” she said. “He has a record that can be compared with anyone else, and I think voters will definitely be taking a look at that when they go to the ballot box.”