Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) today predicted that Republicans would maintain control of the House and Democrats would keep the Senate, according to a report in an Illinois paper.

“I think it’s likely we’ll see an outcome similar to what we have today,” he told the editorial board of the Daily Herald, a paper that covers the Chicago suburbs. “Democratic majority in the Senate but not 60 votes, and a Republican majority in the House but less than it is today.”

That’s a prediction in line with conventional D.C. wisdom, but it is at odds with messaging from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which has been working hard to maintain that the House is in play for Democrats.

As recently as an interview aired on Sunday, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) said Democrats had “a very excellent chance to take back the House.”

And DCCC Chairman Steve Israel (N.Y.) was buoyantly bullish last week about Democrats’ chances to retake the chamber. He cited good atmospherics for Democrats over the past few weeks, especially GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s pick of Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan as his running mate.

DCCC Communications Director Jesse Ferguson echoed that sentiment. “The latest polling shows that voters want to oust this Tea Party Republican majority and control of the House is in play after Paul Ryan’s Medicare-ending budget became the ticket-mate for every House Republican,” he said in a statement to Roll Call.

Top Republican House strategists maintain that, at worst for the GOP, Democrats will net a handful of seats this November.