Laura Henderson, the press secretary for the office of Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby, sends us the following note after picking up on our discussion from yesterday:
I saw your posting from yesterday. I can assure the readers of your blog that Senator Shelby has announced that he is running for reelection in 2010 and has every intention of remaining Alabama’s senior senator.
Of course, plans and intentions can change — for a while, it looked like Sens. Domenici and Hagel were going to run for another term this year. But at the age of 76 when he’ll be up for re-election in 2010, Shelby does have at least one term’s worth of gas left his tank, if he wants to use it. However, unlike Markos, I doubt that Shelby will face any Democrats of note if he indeed runs for another term.
I definitely can’t see Artur Davis running unless it’s an open seat. He knows his future is too bright to risk a major, high-profile loss in a really tough Senate race. His life story is likely to gather lots of media attention when he makes a major run for federal office, so he needs to time things right or it’s game over. He has other options, and could also run for Governor and might even end up in Obama’s cabinet.
Ron Sparks might give it a shot, but I’m a little disappointed in him for being scared off so easily by Vivian Figures, who was a pretty weak candidate in the end. It’s probably best for him, though. But I think he’ll hold off for an open seat too.
amazes just how much behind the scenes attention this blog has started getting. Rachael Maddow, Shelby’s staff, that random attack from Virgil Goode on, (at least that’s what he said he was), fourteen year old poster Populista,and even Schumer and Van Hollen, read it occassionally. I guess you look to the most informed watchers for a free look at the on the ground feeling. It’s even more amazing when you consider that we are a relatively small blog.
Shelby’s very popular, though, on that note. He’s got a strong base with the Mobile lawyer crowd, and is generally more favorable to trial lawyers than other Republicans, (he used to be one I believe). That means he has a solid base in one of the major money bases for the AL-GOP. He also has a solid base in the southern part of the state. A shame that he switched parties though, I think he could have continued to win as a Democrat and he wouldn’t be as pressured to vote conservatively.
I can’t begin to understand for the life of me why Dick Shelby has decided to run for another term, other than the fact it’s Alabama and it would by an easy race. This guy was first elected as a Democrat, but switched to the Republicans in 1994 after the GOP retook the Senate.
Now that the Democrats have firm control of both Houses of Congress, there’s little chance Shelby would get any higher influence. He’s already reached his peak at this point. Besides, he’ll be two years older than John McCain, who might now run again. Really find it hard to understand some people.
that doesn’t sound like he’s wavering. And he’s got 10 million in the bank so it’s not like he’ll have a lot of fundraising to do.
I doubt this seat will be seriously contested.
Shelby is still popular with some Dems. Sessions was a lot more vulnerable and you see what happened there.
Six republican Srenators over 70 will have seats up for re-election in 2010. How many will run?
Arlen Specter is the dean of that class for the Republicans. He’ll be 80 in 2010 and faced a very stiff primary challenge funded by the Club For Growth. They never stop coming at you (and the Club’s current head, Pat Toomey, was the guy who took on Specter in 2004). I’d be surprised if Specter ran.
Jim Bunning presumably has Alzheimer’s or a related disease. Mercifully, he has a chance to retire in 2010. If not, I suspect he would go down in either the general election or in the Republican primary.
Chuck Grassley is a bit of a n unknown. He looks older than his considerable years (77 in 2010) and Iowa is tilting blue. On the other hand, he seems to have a huge ego and along with everything else, he has brought home the bacon. If I had to guess, I’sd say he runs.
Richard Shelby, as noted, will be 76. He’s younger and would seem to have an easier time of it than any of his elders from this class.
John McCain and George Voinovich will each be 74. McCain is six months younger. Either has ample reason to retire. For a man of McCain’s age with the years at the Hanoi Hilton thrown in, he seemed very much active and full of energy. The key might be hereditary as his mom looked better than some 80 year olds and that’s a big compliment).
The next eldest are Mel Martinez, 64 in 2010, and Johnny Isakson, 65 in 2010. Young enough to run again but certainly olsd enough to retire. Martinez barely won six years ago and figures to have a hard re-election race.
Mike Crapo, Tom Coburn, and Judd Gregg would also be over 60 in 2012. I thought Gregg was a lot older than his 61 years. He’ll definitely have a target on his back and his super conservative record will provide plenty of fodder for the Democrats.