My internet access at home is on the fritz, so I might as well put up an open thread while I still have the chance.
Lots of buzz around the tubes lately, from Chuck Hagel retirement/Presidential chatter to the netroots scoring a big win over Fox News. Also, if you missed DavidNYC‘s front page action alert on DailyKos targeting ethically-challenged Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM), please check it out and help prod the House into initiating an ethics investigation against Wilson.
What’s on your mind lately?
UPDATE: A little birdie tells me that Darcy Burner (D) has just filed for a rematch against Rep. Dave Reichert (R) in WA-08.
UPDATE 2: The Wall Street Journal speculates that Woody Jenkins, who narrowly lost a bitterly disputed election in 1996 to Mary Landrieu, will challenge her for the seat once again this year. Jenkins last ran statewide in 1999, for his bid for Louisiana Commissioner of Elections (which he lost to fellow Republican Suzanne Terrell). It remains to be seen whether or not Jenkins still has enough mojo to get the Republican nomination (remember, Louisiana is now using a closed-primary system for federal offices).
UPDATE 3 (David): Another former netroots candidate, Erica Massa (NY-29), is throwing his hat back in the ring for a rematch against “Shotgun” Randy Kuhl.
So, I’m going to be doing a lot of this around here, I have a feeling, if Hagel decides not to run for Senate. Here’s some speculation on one possible consequence:
Rep. Jeff Fortenberry is a rumored candidate for Senate should Hagel retire. In 2004, when this seat was open, we didn’t have a whole lot of success, even with a strong candidate. Fortenberry’s strength inside Lincoln hurt us with our base. He’s consolidated that support now and would be tough to beat for his Congressional seat. Matt Connealy, who ran for the seat in 2004, is Executive Director of our state party now. I don’t know exactly who we could get to run for the seat, but I suspect it’s going to take a young progressive, more like Jim Esch or Scott Kleeb, to really energize the 1st District.
Now, if Fortenberry does drop out, we’d likely see another bloody Republican primary. The Lincoln Republicans have become a bunch of radical wingnuts, and I can’t honestly see any of them running a credible campaign. The strongest possible candidate for the Republicans would probably be Mike Flood, Speaker of the Legislature, from Norfolk.
I’m still not really sure who will or should run in the 1st District in 2008, but I think we need a different kind of candidate this time.
Pajama Pete and Nipplewonder both go down. Hard. So, if Tom Udall were to run for the senate seat, who would run for NM-03, and who would run for NM-01?
Portsmouth Mayor Steve Marchand‘s and activist Katrina Swett‘s websites are up and running.
Also, this week, two prominent Democratic possibilities stepped aside: progressive businessman Gary Hirshberg and state senator David Gottesman. Meanwhile, Blue Hampshire commenters remind us that there is still lots of time left.
So, would Marchand be the early favorite in a primary? Also, has Buckley revealed anything new about how he’s feeling? I also remembering reading something that said that both Marchand and Swett would step aside if fmr. Gov. Shaheen decided to jump in – has she been giving off any signals? Primaries can be good for candidates, as long as they don’t go off tearing each other’s asses apart (i.e., Angelides/Westly).
There is one Republic elected to state-wide office in West Virginia: Secretary of State Betty Ireland.
As discussed in Secretary of State Betty Ireland in 2008, rumor has it she’s not running for re-election. She “is considering her political options including U.S. Senate, governor and Congress.”
Her options just aren’t all that great. IIRC she’s a resident of WV-02 (not that it would stop her from being able to move and run in WV-01 or WV-03). Either way, as of right now there are no open seats in those 3-5 offices. No one looks particularly vulnerable, either.
Unless the wildly popular Gov. Manchin (D) or solidly popular Sen. Rockefeller (D) suddenly changes their mind about re-election, she’d be nuts to run against them.
Could this be a warning shot to Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (WV-02) about a potential primary threat from the right? If so, would that be the extra impetus Capito needs to run against Rockefeller? Who’s got the better shot against Rockefeller, Capito or Ireland?
One other possibility is Ireland heads north to run against Mollohan. He was viewed as a vulnerable Dem seat last time around (though it was never even close).
running a grudge match will be an interesting site to behold. Suzanne Haik Terrell’s website is in the process of being rebuilt. I guess every Republican in Louisiana is seeking a job this cycle.
Seriously? The man has already lost 3 Senate races in the state, going all the way back to the 1970’s.
I can’t imagine him getting much over 50% of the vote. The man makes Jim Inhofe look sober and reasonable. But between his personal wealth, what he could raise, and the worship he’d no doubt receive from the crazy Christianist side of the political spectrum … maybe he could get 50.0001%.
But if I were Landrieu I’d be much more worried about Jay Dardenne. She can’t run ads against Woody’s wacky Central American follies if Dardenne is the nominee.
The National Democrats have finally taken notice of this extremely important Judicial race that will determine if the Conservatives will cement their current 4-3 majority or if for the first time in a generation a progressive majority will be seated.
Annette Ziegler is everything detestable in a Conservative. She believes that laws on ethical Judicial conduct do not apply to her (her “gut check” test for conflict of interest would be amusing if the consequences weren’t so tragic). And the Club of Growth has swung strongly behind Ziegler.
Team Blue got a late start in this race but movement is finally detectable. Here is a link to an excellent report regarding Judge Ziegler’s unethical judicial behavior and how the National Dems are finally taking this race seriously.
http://www.madison.c…
but it seems like chuckhagel.com is rearing and ready to launch.
That is so last week, David. 😉
Of course, I won’t begrudge one of my favorite former netroots candidates the extra ink (or would that be pixelage?).
This seat is going to be open next year as Elton Gallegly is vacating it next year. It voted 56%, which is a high number, but not to high where we can’t win it. I believe if Democrats can find a good candidate to run and run a good campaign, this seat can turn blue.
Rep. Meehan is moving on.
Any ideas on candidates? I saw the name of Jim DiPaola floating around. He’s a really nice guy who’s the sheriff for Middlesex County, which is most of the district, although I’m not sure if he lives in the 5th.