From Elizabeth Wilner, Mark Murray, Huma Zaidi, and Jennifer Colby
Fifty-six days until election day... We begin with a couple of unfamiliar phrases in American politics: All eyes will be on Rhode Island today, where a Chafee is in serious trouble. From the standpoint of Republicans in Washington, they may lose a Senate seat today, in that they have pretty much written off their chances of holding onto Lincoln Chafee's seat should he fall to primary challenger Stephen Laffey. The conservative Laffey, for his part, argues that the party hasn't been able to count on the centrist Chafee and that he, Laffey, will be a reliable Republican vote. Chafee was appointed to replace his late father, the venerable John Chafee (R), in 1999 and then won a full term in 2000.

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Similarities between this contest and last month's Democratic Senate primary in Connecticut are uncanny: The moderate incumbent is being accused of not supporting his party often enough on key votes; diehards on the blogs call him a political traitor; and there's even an investigation into whether his website was hacked into. But the similarities end at the fact that whereas Democrats are assured of keeping their seat in Connecticut, only a moderate Republican seems to stand a chance of hanging onto this seat in this bright blue state. In the current political climate, even Chafee would have a tough time beating back Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse this fall. (Whitehouse, meanwhile, tells MSNBC.com's Tom Curry that the lesson of the Chafee-Laffey brawl is "just how hard George Bush and Karl Rove are fighting to try to keep Linc Chafee in power." See below.)

Chafee isn't the only one on the spot in Rhode Island today: The Republican National Committee's vaunted 72-Hour Program has sprung into action to get out the vote for the incumbent. Should he lose, Democrats might try to spin his loss as a sign of weakness in the program -- and nervous Republican incumbents might also interpret it that way. But as one operative familiar with the program suggested to First Read, the effort in Rhode Island is "an incredibly upside-down exercise," since the program is meant to turn out base voters and "there are none here." This operative concedes that Laffey offers "a sharp contrast that should work in a GOP primary." Polls here close at 9:00 pm ET.

Beyond Rhode Island, eight other states and the District of Columbia hold primaries today. Indeed, we won't see this many races taking place on one day again until November 7. Among those to watch: In Maryland, 18 candidates -- led by Rep. Ben Cardin and former NAACP chief Kweisi Mfume -- duke it out for the Democratic nomination to replace retiring Sen. Paul Sarbanes (D). The winner will face Lt. Gov. Michael Steele (R), one of the GOP's African-American candidates running for major office this year. Cardin is favored to win, but as we wrote yesterday, an Mfume-Steele contest would feature an unprecedented match-up between two African-American major-party nominees. Polls close at 8:00 pm ET.

In Arizona, there are primaries to decide which Democrat and Republican will face off for retiring GOP Rep. Jim Kolbe's seat, which presents Democrats with one of their top pick-up opportunities. In Minnesota, Democrats Mike Hatch and Becky Lourey compete to challenge Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) in November. As we wrote last week, Lourey's son, a US Army helicopter pilot, died in Iraq last year, which makes her (to the best of our knowledge) the only candidate running for major office this year who has lost a child in Iraq. Also in Minnesota, Keith Ellison (D) could become the nation's first Muslim congressman if he wins his primary in a heavily Democratic district. Polls close at 9:00 pm ET and 10:00 pm ET, respectively, in these two states.

Finally, there are several races of note in New York, including the blundering GOP primary between KT McFarland and John Spencer for the right to challenge Sen. Hillary Clinton (D); Clinton's own primary against anti-war challenger Jonathan Tasini; and the four-way Democratic contest to replace retiring Rep. Major Owens (D). That race, a favorite among New York political junkies who have little else to watch today, presents the possibility that the sole white candidate, David Yassky, could win this majority-black district due to the other three candidates splitting the African-American vote. Polls close at 9:00 pm ET.

President Bush has a buffer day of no public events between yesterday's observances and tomorrow's return to the fundraising circuit. Democrats would charge that Bush doesn't need to bother with a down day to transition back to politicking because his primetime speech last night was loaded with it, containing many themes and arguments he makes daily in defense of his approach to Iraq. The White House had said the speech wouldn't be political -- but remember that they also called it part of their campaign to bolster public support for the war in Iraq as part of the war on terror.

A new add to Bush's schedule for Thursday: a closed-door meeting with House Republicans on Capitol Hill. NBC's Mike Viqueira notes that the House plans to leave town on September 29, not to return until a week after election day, and this will likely be their last chance to get a pep talk from their leader.

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