(CNN) -- Polls have begun to close in Eastern states, ushering in a long night of hope and fear -- hope on the part of Democrats that their season in the political wilderness is coming to an end and fear on the part of Republicans of the very same thing.

Democrats need to pick up 15 seats in the House and six in the Senate to wrest majorities from the GOP, and they need to make a net gain of four governorships to have a majority of state chief executives nationwide.

Polls have now closed in six states, including Virginia -- where Republican Sen. George Allen is fighting for his political life against Democratic challenger Jim Webb -- and Kentucky and Indiana -- where the fates of five vulnerable Republican incumbents will be a key early test of whether the GOP is facing a Democratic wave or an out-and-out tsunami.

Two of those five GOP incumbents were trailing in early returns.