(Commentary) Asked if the newly configured 16th District might make it more competitive, Dole said political handicapper Larry Sabato might move it to “Lean Republican” rather than “Solid Republican.” Not quite, says Sabato, whose “Crystal Ball” is housed at the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics. “Likely Republican,” he told The Daily Beast. “A little more competitive but they’ve [Democrats] got a long way to go” in Ohio, a state he sees as a lost cause for Dems.