Senate 2008 Guru: Following the Races

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

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Real Republican Losers

  • Kentucky: The Bluegrass State held its gubernatorial primaries yesterday, and the real loser was Mitch McConnell. In the Republican primary, corrupt Republican incumbent Governor Ernie Fletcher whupped former Rep. Anne Northup, despite being reportedly backed behind the scenes by Mitch McConnell's political machine, by a 50.1 to 36.5 margin. On top of that, on the Democratic side, progressive former Lt. Gov. Steve Beshear beat the McConnell-friendly Bruce Lunsford with over 40% of the vote, avoiding a run-off. Deepening the Senatorial subtext of the gubernatorial race, taking a shot at Mitch McConnell for not being more supportive of embattled GOP Governor Fletcher was Larry Forgy, the 1995 KY-GOP gubernatorial nominee in whose name a draft effort has emerged to challenge McConnell in a GOP Senate primary in 2008. It will be interesting to see how much support the McConnell-Bunning-Northup crew give Fletcher, and how Forgy responds to it. Intriguing stuff.

  • Alabama: Sack Sessions has the goods on more bad local press for Jeff Sessions, this time on his short-sighted stance on immigration.

  • New Hampshire: Blue Hampshire catches Sprintin' John Sununu skipping out on minor, trivial responsibilities of his job like attending important legislative hearings and voting on bills. If Sprintin' Sununu doesn't care for the responsibilities of his job, I know some people who wouldn't mind taking the role off his hands.

  • Iowa: A local blog highlights rumors that businessman Troy Cook may enter the GOP Senate primary. "Who?" you may be asking. Yeah. Another local conservative blog notes its displeasure with the IA-GOP as the state Party's co-Chairman has reportedly been already voicing his support for businessman Steve Rathje, despite a likely primary. One has to like Tom Harkin's chances when Iowa conservatives are fighting each other over support for third-tier unknown candidates.

  • MyDD's Singer looks at how laughably sloppy the NRSC's online press operation is.

  • Schadenfreude of the day: Former Virginia Senator George "Macaca" Allen is commenting on the 2008 GOP Presidential primary for which he could have been the front-runner if he didn't self-destruct in his 2006 Senate re-election bid. Allen was exactly the kind of vacuous, empty-suit conservative that the neocons and the theocons could have happily united behind; a real wRepublican (a Republican with a silent "W" in front). Alas. Couldn't have happened to a nicer racist.

  • Want one single story that highlights the intersection between Bush losing the "War on Terror," the Iraq War, and the "War on Drugs"? OK, here ya go.

  • 8 Comments:

    Blogger Anthony_Distler said...

    You have to like Tom Harkin's chances? I was unaware that Harkin was even in any trouble to begin with.

    And Forgy isn't enough to take McConnell down, in my mind. He doesn't seem like the kind of guy that people can get excited about. The only way McConnell goes down is if Forgy runs as an Independent in the general election and ends up splitting the Republican vote, giving the election to a Democrat. Unlikely.

    3:07 PM, May 23, 2007  
    Blogger VA Blogger said...

    A few news stories you missed:

    Sam Kephart announced that he's running against Tim Johnson in South Dakota. Kephart's candidacy in and of itself is rather minor, but he gives cover to other potential candidates to more seriously explore a bid. It will be interesting to see the reactions, if any, of challenging Johnson while he's still recovering.

    A two-part story from the Raleigh News-Observer in North Carolina. First, George AG Thurbert Baker won't rule out a run for Senate in 2008 against Saxby Chambliss. Second, however, North Carolina AG Roy Cooper firmly rules out a challenge, nipping that speculation in the bud.

    And since you're fond of liberal blogs profiling Democrats in a positive light or profiling Republicans in a negative light, I thought it would be interesting to see if you would post MyDD's repudiation of Mark Udall. I guess I expected too much out of you.

    3:30 PM, May 23, 2007  
    Blogger Senate2008Guru said...

    va blogger: Obviously you don't read the blog closely because I mentioned Kephart's run on Sunday night. D'oh! Also, I didn't "miss" the RNO blurb - I've incorporated it into a much larger post that I've been working on over the last day or so and just finished - it will be up in the next hour. And I don't know what words you read, but Cooper didn't "firmly rule out" anything. He said exactly what any current office-holder might say while in the early stages of considering a bid for higher office: 'I like my current office.' His exact words were "I want to be attorney general." And the blurb's writer characterized the comments as 'not interested in a Senate run.' Hardly an air-tight situation.

    3:49 PM, May 23, 2007  
    Blogger Will Cubbison said...

    The print version of that story contained:
    "I can't stop people from talking," he said. "We'll see what happens down the road."

    Which if you want him to run is leaving the door open and if you dont want him to run it is a definite no.

    4:13 PM, May 23, 2007  
    Blogger VA Blogger said...

    Let's put it this way: Cooper has as much chance running as Mike Easley, another "potential" candidate who "hasn't firmly" ruled it out.

    At some point, you have to face reality and realize that these people will not contend for the seat.

    4:13 PM, May 23, 2007  
    Blogger Senate2008Guru said...

    va blogger: any chance I'm going to get an apology for you suggesting that I missed the Kephart story, when in fact I obviously noted it Sunday night? Hmmm? Any contrition?

    4:27 PM, May 23, 2007  
    Blogger Will Cubbison said...

    Except Easley has firmly ruled it out, multiple times, giving very specific reasons.

    I assume "you" is referring to someone else, since I have never advocated for either to run.

    4:32 PM, May 23, 2007  
    Blogger VA Blogger said...

    Yes, blue south, I was referring to S2G. You posted seconds before mine did.

    And S2G, why would I apologize to you? I made a mistake, but it wasn't a criticism of you. I was helping you out by posting stories that you may not have seen. Two links I provided you had not posted; the third one you did. If you feel that that's something someone needs to apologize for, then I don't know what to tell you.

    6:51 PM, May 23, 2007  

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