Another GOP Senate Seat Looks Lost
By: Lowell
Published On: 7/29/2008 2:21:26 PM
With the indictment of Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK), there likely goes another GOP-held U.S. Senate seat. Add that one to these four likely Democratic pickup possibilities:
*Mark Warner over Jim Gilmore in Virginia
*Tom Udall over Steve Pearce in New Mexico
*Mark Udall over Bob Schaffer in Colorado (can Dick Wad(hams) save Schaffer?)
*Jeanne Shaheen over John Sununu in New Hampshire
There are also these possibilities:
*Jeff Merkeley over Gordon Smith in Oregon
*Ronnie Musgrove over Roger Wicker in Mississippi
*Kay Hagan over Elizabeth Dole in North Carolina
*Al Franken over Norm Coleman in Minnesota
That's nine seriously vulnerable Republican Senate seats this November. Meanwhile, as far as I can tell, there's just one vulnerable Democratic Senate seat - Mary Landrieu in Louisiana. Plus, the DSCC has a ton more money than its Republican counterpart. There's still a long ways to go, but you can't be liking the looks of this if you're a Republican.
Comments
No More Tubes!!! (Scott Surovell - 7/29/2008 2:35:32 PM)
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
the intertube (pvogel - 7/29/2008 2:59:54 PM)
when stevens gets to jail, it will be " Grow two boobs, and get some lube out the tube"
You forgot one important race (Doug in Mount Vernon - 7/29/2008 3:12:55 PM)
Maine!
Tom Allen is running a great race against Olympia Snowe, and the Bush-backing "moderate" seems vulnerable, only polling in the mid to high 40's....
Right, I did forget about that one. (Lowell - 7/29/2008 4:20:50 PM)
OK, so we're up to 10 vulnerable Republicans now...do I hear 11? 12? :)
so if I read this right.... we may have the 60 we need?? (Used2Bneutral - 7/29/2008 4:30:05 PM)
so we can finally get some bills through the Senate without a filabuster???
It's a long shot (Lowell - 7/29/2008 4:36:31 PM)
but I suppose it's possible. Of course, once we kick Joe Lieberman's sorry, McCain-endorsing ass out of our party, we'll need another real Democrat in the Senate to reach 60 votes.
Agreed (Johnny Camacho - 7/29/2008 9:26:47 PM)
However, it's not just Lieberman. I can't really remember the last time Sen. Ben Nelson acted like a progressive, and Sen. Mark Pryor has hovered to the right of center since the day he took office.
And those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head.
I think you mean Susan Collins (tx2vadem - 7/29/2008 5:03:27 PM)
Olympia Snow is up in 2012.
Oh and shouldn't ChrisGuy be screaming? Someone said Maine is in play.
Oregon (Bryan Scrafford - 7/29/2008 3:31:43 PM)
I've been following the Oregon race since before the primary and Merkley is a great candidate who'd be a great addition to the senate. As the Speaker of Oregon's state House of Representatives, Merkley was able to get through some cuases that greatly benefited Oregon despite having a slite majority.
It's that type of leadership that I think would really complement Jim Webb, Mark Warner, and other progressive leaders in the Senate make sure that we can pass some truly productive legislation in the next Congress.
not necessarily (teacherken - 7/29/2008 3:37:02 PM)
I believe that Stevens has an opponent, who is a wealthy, self-financing basically moderate Republican running on an anti-corruption platform. And the primary is not until August 26. Thus it is not even guaranteed that Stevens will be the Republican nominee, and his opponent might be a more difficult target for Begich.
That said, right now the Alaska Republican party is reeling, since even Gov. Sarah Palin is now caught up in scandal.
Just saying, this one is not done yet.
Yep. (Arlington Mike - 7/29/2008 4:48:02 PM)
TeacherKen has it right on.
If anything, this is BAD news for Democrats, if Stevens pulls out of the race now, as compared to after the primary. Running against an indicted Republican senator is exactly what the Dems want - not running against a fresh-faced primary winner who can use both a change platform and the fact that he is a Republican in a Republican state.
Even as bad as things are in AK for the GOP, for Democratic chances, this makes the seat in no way a sure thing. Please, Lowell, do not consider AK a likely pick-up.
One seems to be a sure thing - VA.
Two look very good - NM and NH.
Another one looks good - CO.
Then there are a few that we'd like to take, where we are running against moderate GOP members, but as of now don't have the numbers - ME and OR. (OR seems much more likely than ME.)
Then there are the NC/MN/MS races, which are a real uphill climb.
And Alaska, which is a situation that is changing by the minute.
Stevens is pretty stubborn... (ericy - 7/29/2008 8:57:10 PM)
his inclination right now is to fight this. Go Ted :-).
And for those of us who like to dream... (Kindler - 7/29/2008 8:29:44 PM)
...add in Mitch McConnell's seat in KY. Latest poll shows the Mitchster less than 7 points ahead -- not the most comfortable position for the incumbent Majority Leader of the Senate.
And for those who REALLY like to dream... (Lowell - 7/29/2008 8:35:31 PM)
...there's
Scott Kleeb in Nebraska and
Rick Noriega in Texas.