Senate 2008 Guru: Following the Races

Keeping a close eye on developments in the 2008 U.S. Senate races

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Another Enormous Thursday Night Rundown

  • Wyoming: The deadline to apply for the Senate vacancy lapsed this afternoon and there are 31 applicants in total. In a state with only 515,000 residents, that means that there are only 16,613 residents per Senate candidate. Wild.

  • Nebraska: Dave Sund gives us the lowdown on Republican businessman Tony Raimondo stepping up his Senate efforts in Nebraska, where Chuck Hagel is rapidly becoming an afterthought. Also from Nebraska, UNO Dems breaks down how Republican Senate wannabes Jon Bruning, Hal Daub, and Tony Raimondo each represent a different negative characteristic of the NE-GOP, embodied in 2006 Republican Senate loser Pete Ricketts.

  • New Hampshire: Professor and former astronaut Jay Buckey makes his Senate campaign official. Blue Hampshire's Dean Barker offers a round-up of recent events in the New Hampshire Senate race, including the Draft Shaheen movement gaining support.

  • Minnesota: MN Publius notes that Nobel Laureate Dr. Peter Agre met with Joe Trippi last week to get advice about a possible Senate bid. Meanwhile, Talking Points Memo shows part two of its interview with Al Franken, focusing on Iraq; and, separately, Franken's camp comes up with a fun and inclusive fundraising gimmick.

  • Kentucky: Draft Forgy sees Mitch McConnell getting even more flack from conservatives. This time around it's from conservative radio host Leland Conway and leading conservative blog RedState.

  • Colorado: Colorado Pols has heard it suggested that we can expect a very solid fundraising Q2 from Mark Udall's campaign.

  • Texas: The Houston Chronicle interviews likely Senate candidate attorney Mikal Watts, discussing John Cornyn's rubber-stamp-itude, Watts' legal successes protecting consumer safety, his liking of John Edwards and Barack Obama in the Presidential race, and several other issues, though more haziness on abortion as well. (HT: Stop Cornyn)

  • Really, seriously, how does Tony Snow sleep at night when he says rubbish like this with a straight face?

  • Kudos to the Massachusetts Legislature for protecting civil rights.

    • posted by Senate2008Guru | 9:25 PM

    6 Comments:

    Blogger VA Blogger said...

    Its been mentioned, in several places, that if Hagel opts to not seek re-election, then Mike Johanns would be be interested in the race, and would mop up against any other potential challenger.

    The reason why I bring up Johanns is because he's the 800 lb. gorilla in the room (at this point, even moreso than Chuck Hagel, in terms of the strongest candidate) but no one seems to be talking about him because he's not mixing things up like Bruning is. In the latest Senate Line from the Fix (BTW, its up) he includes Nebraska for the first time, intruiged by the possibility of a Fahey-Bruning match-up. While that would be an interesting race (with Bruning starting off as the favorite), I think its much more likely to see a Fahey-Johanns race, which would be much less competitive.

    In reality, all of this positioning before Hagel makes a final decision is largely insignificant. The real fireworks happen in a real campaign, and until the incumbent makes up his mind, there is no real campaign. The Bruning-Hagel catfight is petty, and the positioning of minor state GOPers won't matter if either Hagel or Johanns decides to seek the seat.

    10:12 AM, June 15, 2007  
    Blogger Senate2008Guru said...

    And what you're omitting, va blogger, is that if Hagel gets out, the likelihood of former Senator Bob Kerrey entering the race increases significantly. All of a sudden, that 800 lb. gorilla title is up for grabs.

    10:59 AM, June 15, 2007  
    Blogger Anthony_Distler said...

    And if Chuck Hagel decides to seek re-election, but as an Independent, we throw this race up in the air and scream "I give up!"

    11:39 AM, June 15, 2007  
    Blogger Senate2008Guru said...

    Anthony - while that scenario would indeed make the NE-Sen race even more of a circus, it seems very unlikely that Hagel would run for Senate re-election as an independent. He could run for (Vice) President as an independent, sure; but if he does opt for a Senate re-election run, it'll be as a Republican, primary notwithstanding.

    12:15 PM, June 15, 2007  
    Blogger Anthony_Distler said...

    I have heard otherwise. If Michael Bloomberg opts not to mount a presidental run, some sources say that Hagel would seek re-election as an Independent.

    11:52 PM, June 15, 2007  
    Blogger Unknown said...

    Anthony, "some sources" is about as vague as you can possibly be. I haven't heard the possibility even remotely considered as a possibility. Not in the media. Not in any Republican or Democratic circles. Nowhere.

    Va blogger - Johanns is the wild card, but there's been few indications that he's in the race yet. Furthermore, it's very clear that Bruning wouldn't get out of the race even for Johanns. Regardless of what happens, he's not going to "clear the field." You are woefully ignorant of the political dynamics in Nebraska right now.

    1:47 AM, June 16, 2007  

    Post a Comment

    << Home