If you don't mind let me expound on that, what I mean letting east be your guide.
I will give you 5 states in the Eastern Time zone to watch which may determine whether or not the Republicans gain control of the senate. The first two are Kentucky and Georgia, two state which currently have Republican senators. A loss in either one of these two states would doom the GOP attempt to retake the senate. Mathematically it would still be possible, but a trend for the electorate’s attitude and mentality would have been shown and the trend would not be in the Republican’s favor.
Assuming the Republicans are able to win in both Kentucky and Georgia, keeping their at risk seats, the next two states are North Carolina and West Virginia. West Virginia looks like almost a sure thing, but North Carolina isn’t. To have a realistic chance of winning the senate, the GOP must take both states. With these two states under their belt along with retaining their two at risk states, which means the GOP has only 4 more seats to go. Probably an 80% of winning the senate from this point on. There are 5 states in which Romney beat the pants off Obama in 2012, Montana, South Dakota, Louisiana, Arkansas and Alaska, all the Republicans would have to do if the first 4 states go their way is to win 4 of the 5. Very doable if the trend is going the Republican way. This is not counting blue states like Iowa, Colorado, Michigan which the Republicans still have hopes of winning, although their chances are not as good as the 5 red states I mention.
The last state in the Eastern Time Zone to keep an eye on if the Republicans win the other 4 states here is New Hampshire. A loss in New Hampshire would be expected and wouldn’t hurt the Republicans 80% chance of gaining the senate. But a win in New Hampshire would mean all of a sudden the GOP has only 3 states it needs to gain control and would point to a Republican tidal wave about to hit. If New Hampshire goes Republican, so too might Colorado, Michigan, Iowa and perhaps even Oregon. Now you would be talking about a 10-11 seat pick up.
So my advice is if the GOP loses either Kentucky or Georgia, go to bed, there is no way they will gain the senate. If the Republicans lose in North Carolina, go to bed, the odds are about 90% against them winning control of the senate. But if the Republicans win all four of those states regardless of New Hampshire, you may want to stay up an hour longer and watch the returns from the states in the Central Time Zone. Arkansas, Louisiana, South Dakota, Iowa, Michigan could be the states you are looking at to put the GOP over the top. If not, there is the Mountain Time zone and Montana with Alaska and perhaps Oregon to follow.
Kind of long winded aren't I.