Vice President Biden predicted a November surprise this year -- Democrats doing better than expected in the Nov. 2 congressional elections.

"I don't think the losses are going to be bad at all," Biden said on ABC's This Week. "I think we're going to shock the heck out of everybody."

Biden also told ABC's Jake Tapper that the administration will start pulling troops out of Afghanistan next July, but the initial withdrawal could be small depending on how the war is going.

"It could be as few as a couple thousand troops," Biden said. "It could be more. But there will be a transition."

While polls give Republicans a chance to retake the U.S. House, Biden said voters will eventually start comparing Democratic policies with those of the GOP candidates. When that happens, Biden said, "we're going to be in great shape."

Biden also said that the $862 billion stimulus bill might have been bigger, but the administration wanted to try and attract some Republican votes with a smaller package.

Republicans who appeared on the Sunday morning talk shows said voters would punish President Obama and the Democrats for ineffective spending programs that have increased both unemployment and the federal debt.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., declined to make a specific election prediction on CNN's State of the Union but said if the vote was Sunday, "we would have a good day" in the Senate races.

"I'd like to be in better shape than the 41 (GOP senators) that we have now," McConnell said. "And I think the chances of that are pretty good."

On other Sunday shows:

- Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said on NBC's Meet The Press that Obama will be a big asset for Democrats on the campaign trail. "The president and the White House know that they need a strong majority in the House and in the Senate in order to complete their agenda," Van Hollen said. "They also know that the day after the elections, it will be interpreted as a referendum on the president's policies in the press, whether they like it or not. So, we are on the same page."

- Politicians debated the Arizona immigration law on CBS' Face The Nation. Gov. Bill Richardson, D-N.M., said the law will "lead to racial profiling." Ex-representative J.D. Hayworth, R-Ariz., who is challenging John McCain for his Senate seat, said the state has to act because the federal government has failed to protect the border with Mexico.

- Sen. David Vitter, R-La., urged Americans not to forget to the Gulf Coast once the oil spill is plugged. "We have major challenges ahead," Vitter said on Fox News Sunday, citing both the cleanup of the Gulf's waters and economic recovery in the region.

In his ABC interview, Biden also commented on:

Claims that some "Tea Party" members are racists: "Some of the Tea Party folks have expressed racist views ... (but) I wouldn't characterize the Tea Party as racist. ... I don't believe, the president doesn't believe, that the Tea Party is a racist organization. ... Very conservative. Very different views on government and a whole lot of things. But it is not a racist organization."

The end of U.S. combat operations in Iraq next month: "There is a transition government. There is a government in place that's working. Iraqi security is being provided by the Iraqis, with our assistance. We're going to still have 50,000 troops there. We will have brought home 95,000. There is no one in the military who thinks there's any reason we can't do that. So they're making real serious progress. I don't have a doubt in my mind that we'll be able to meet the commitment of having only 50,000 troops there and it will not in any way affect the physical stability of Iraq."

Criticism of him by former Afghanistan commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal and aides: "I didn't take it personally at all. I really, honest to God, didn't. Compared to what happens in politics, that was a piece of cake. ... (But) the president made the right decision. He changed the personalities, but not the policy."

How things are going in Afghanistan: "It's too early to make a judgment. We don't even have all the troops of the so-called surge in place yet. That won't happen until August. ... Unfortunately, everyone knew that in these summer months, when they (the insurgents) can infiltrate from Pakistan under the cover of foliage and the rest and it's open, that there would be more deaths. ... But we still believe that the policy that the military signed onto, put together initially, signed onto, is, in fact, going to work."

Biden added on Afghanistan: "All of this is just beginning. And we knew it was going to be a tough slog. But I think it's much too premature to make a judgment until the military said we should look at it, which is in December."

(Posted by David Jackson)