Sunday Wondering

Nebraska & Virginia: Even right-wingers are expecting Senate retirements in 2008 from Chuck Hagel and John Warner.

Virginia: With former Gov. Jim Gilmore dropping his Presidential bid, he says he is keeping his options open regarding a 2008 Senate race or 2009 Gubernatorial bid. His gubernatorial term has been described as "unsuccessful" and "a terrible performance" so one can only wonder how Virginians would take to another Gilmore statewide campaign. With Democrats having won the last several high profile statewide campaigns and the VA-GOP playing defense, one must also wonder if the VA-GOP could weather a Senate primary between Gilmore and GOP Rep. Tom Davis and emerge strong enough to take on a viable Democrat, much less an extremely popular one like former Governor Mark Warner who inherited and cleaned up the mess Gilmore left him.

Kentucky: Mitch McConnell's one remaining electoral strength is his big pile of money, raising about $1.6 million in Q2 bringing his cash-on-hand to $5.8 million.

Wyoming: An Enduring Democratic Majority looks at statements that popular Democratic Governor Dave Freudenthal has made regarding newly-appointed Senator Tom John Barrasso's "tepid" support for environmental initiatives championed by the late Craig Thomas and wonders if Freudenthal might be considering a 2008 Senate bid. While Freudenthal has continually demonstrated no interest in a Senate bid, his statements at the very least soften Barrasso up and point to issues on which a challenger could run.

South Carolina: In case you missed it, Lindsey Graham got rhetorically slapped around by Senator and former Secretary of the Navy Jim Webb on Meet the Press this morning for putting his political views in the mouths of the soldiers. Graham tried to argue that our military keeps fighting because they uniformly agree with Bush's "mission" in Iraq. Webb countered that, while polls demonstrate that the majority of members of the military do not agree with Bush's "mission" (citing this morning's New York Times for example), our soldiers fight because "they love their country." Webb cites actual patriotism. Graham disingenuously tries to ascribe his political beliefs to our soldiers.

Speaking of Bush's "mission" in Iraq, Think Progress has a thorough rundown of the ever-changing mission in Iraq.

Bush will veto bi-partisan legislation that would expand health care coverage for children. Disgusting. Really, really, truly disgusting.

It's Sunday, so be sure to check out MyDD later for the weekly column on the Senate races.