In another blow to Republican Senate hopes, Rep. Tom Davis, considered their party’s best shot at holding the seat of retiring Sen. John Warner in the red column, is set to abort his candidacy in a public announcement this week (possibly as early as Thursday). Chris Cillizza adds that it is not yet clear whether Davis will retire from the House or not.
That leaves the field clear for GOP stalwart and former Gov. Jim Gilmore to proudly wave the conservative flag in the election against the formidable Democrat Mark Warner.
This could turn into the most boring Senate race of the cycle. But hey, I won’t complain.
Would it kill you to front-page one of my diaries?
VA-11 would be significantly harder to gain with him there.
it seems like the far right of the virginia repubs could keep pulling this nominating convention every time he wants to run for something other than the house, and make it impossible to get the nomination.
any thoughts on whether he wants to run for governor.if the GOP has a convention for the 2009 governor race that might also keep him from wanting to run for governor
….to be more of a toss-up than most as long as Davis was the candidate, but now that the race looks likely to be M. Warner vs. Gilmore, we can almost assuredly check this one off as a Dem pickup.
. . . but remember, we must not count our proverbial chickens. Remember how the Repubs were certain that George Allen’s re-election was a sure thing? And look what happened to them. (Yes, I know, the Macaca incident combined with the Democratic nature of the year had a lot to do with Webb’s victory. But my point is, we have to work hard EVERYWHERE, even in races that we might perceive as givens). Onward!
The DSCC can now focus elsewhere without having to pour significant resources into this race.