Doing Your Job

Lots of news:

New Hampshire: Fresh off of voting against the minimum wage increase, John Sununu votes against requiring Congressional authorization before Bush can send more troops to Iraq. No, John Sununu isn't out of touch with the voters of New Hampshire! P'shaw, I say. P'shaw! This quote kinda says it all:

Sununu has said he is looking for a way to call for change in Iraq that doesn't put him at odds with his party.

It makes me think of the quote from The American President:

I was so busy keeping my job I forgot to do my job.

Sununu's job isn't to find a politically comfortable nook. It is to represent New Hampshire and be a leader. He is not representing New Hampshire. He is not leading. He is not doing his job. So New Hampshire, I anticipate, will relieve Sununu of his job in 2008.

Minnesota: Norm Coleman also voted against that measure to impede Bush's escalation in Iraq. MSNBC's Tom Curry looks at Coleman, much like Sununu, trying to play both sides of the Iraq issue.

Massachusetts: In the wake of Senator John Kerry's decision to forgo an '08 Presidential bid and rather run for re-election and continue doing his job, speculation begins on who the downtrodden MA-GOP will dig up to challenge Kerry:

One potential GOP challenger, state Sen. Scott Brown, said last night that he “would consider” a run against Kerry in 2008 and that the senator is ripe for the picking. ...

In addition to Brown, the pool of possible Republican challengers to Kerry’s Senate re-election bid next year could include Harvard Pilgrim CEO Charles Baker, real estate mogul and powerful GOP fund-raiser Chris Egan, state Sen. Bruce Tarr (R-Gloucester), U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan, former Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey and President Bush’s former chief of staff, Andy Card."

This looks like the same list of people considered for running mate to former Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey in her failed 2006 Gov bid to replace Mitt Romney (or to replace Healey when it became obvious that her campaign was flailing). It also looks like the same list as potential challengers to Gov. Deval Patrick in 2010. Why? Cuz there ain't many Republicans left in Massachusetts. Kerry should have a fairly comfortable re-election run.

Tennessee: Harold Ford will be taking the Chairmanship of the DLC after all. The article suggests that this position is a strong platform from which to challenge Lamar Alexander in 2008, but I think his taking this job makes him less likely to transition into another Senate campaign, opting instead to use the DLC Chair to operate as more of a party boss.

Kansas: It's pretty safe to take Pat Roberts off of retirement watch, since he is building up a re-election finance committee.

Political Wire looks at a Politico piece on the aging of the Senate. Along those lines, over the weekend, I will be putting out this blog's first official Retirement Watch post. Stay tuned.