Author: GOPVOTER

Fundraising in the cycle before an election can give us signs of who is thinking about retirement or who is planning for a tough re-election. Looking through 2009-2010 FEC reports for 2012 Senate candidates contains some surprises about incumbents assumed to be likely 2012 retirements, such as Dianne Feinstein and Ben Nelson. Below you can find the fundraising, cash on hand, and debt of every incumbent senator up for re-election in 2012, with the exception of Kirsten Gillibrand, who first has to win a 2010 election and West Virginia, where we do not know who the incumbent will be.

I will arrange it by the amount (least to greatest) that the Senator has raised this cycle:

Senator- Raised this cycle- Cash on Hand- Debt

(D-HI)Daniel Akaka- $19,000- $78,050- $0

(R-TX)Kay Bailey Hutchison- $77,788- $50,628- $0

(I-CT)Joe Lieberman- $81,721- $1,261,561- $0

(D-NM)Jeff Binjaman- $147,146- $366,018- $0

(D-WI)Herb Kohl*- $198,207- $15,549- $0

(I-VT)Bernie Sanders- $259,622- $141,661- $0

(R-WY)John Barrasso- $384,215- $554,739- $0

(R-ME)Olympia Snowe- $407,009- $1,085,714- $0

(R-NV)John Ensign- $444,161- $961,247- $0

(R-IN)Dick Lugar- $464,852- $2,350,060- $0

(R-AZ)Jon Kyl- $562,490- $600,327- $0

(D-MD)Ben Cardin- $613,752- $379,594- $0

(D-ND)Kent Conrad- $616,187- $1,905,346- $0

(D-VA)Jim Webb- $688,356- $509,959- $0

(D-DE)Tom Carper- $734,118- $935,791- $0

(D-MT)Jon Tester- $844,975- $500,768- $0

(D-RI)Sheldon Whitehouse- $855,136- $589,527- $0

(R-MS)Roger Wicker- $919,844- $401,796- $0

(D-MO)Claire McCaskill- $1,087,857- $793,586- $0

(D-WA)Maria Cantwell*- $1,111,117- $316,029- $2,180,161

(D-NE)Ben Nelson- $1,218,005- $1,180,852- $0

(R-UT)Orrin Hatch- $1,286,657- $2,300,247- $0

(D-MN)Amy Klobuchar- $1,351,502- $1,307,076- $0

(D-PA)Bob Casey- $1,379,122- $876,815- $0

(R-TN)Bob Corker- $1,406,025- $$796,477- $0

(D-CA)Dianne Feinstein- $1,492,719- $3,641,409- $0

(D-OH)Sherrod Brown- $1,695,542- $1,442,660- $0

(D-FL)Bill Nelson- $1,736,308- $2,712,340- $0

(D-MI)Debbie Stabenow- $1,880,157- $$1,407,087- $8,303

(D-NJ)Bob Menendez- $2,207,492- $2,036,673- $0

(R-MA)Scott Brown- $17,005,388- $6,034,498- $158,513

*Ability and willingness to self-fund

Scott Brown raised a huge amount of money in the run up to the MA special election, so much that he couldn’t spend it all. He had about 5 million left over immediately after the election, and has added an addition million to his campaign account since then. He heads into 2011 with the largest bank account of any senator up for re-election in 2012, other than Gillibrand, who has an election this year.

Incumbents Ben Nelson, Dianne Feinstein, Orrin Hatch, Tom Carper, and Olympia Snowe, all retirement possibilities in 2012, have raised decent amounts of money for their campaigns so far. Senators Daniel Akaka, Jeff Binjaman, Joe Lieberman, and Kay Bailey Hutchison, all retirement possibilities, are not raising much money. Hutchison has already announced her retirement, but she also announced her resignation two years ago. Dick Lugar and John Ensign, both considered very likely retirements, are still raising money. Herb Kohl is also considered a potential retirement in 2012, but it is difficult to tell from his fundraising reports, since he self-funds all of his bids.  

Certainly an interesting night filled with bad news for both parties.

Chris Dodd is expected to announce tomorrow he is retiring.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/

No link to a full article yet, just click at the top where it says “Conn. Sen. Chris Dodd expected to announce retirement, sources say”

to see the rest of the info.

First, I am not sure if this is allowed here, if not, just delete it

As one of few Republicans here, I wanted to take the opportunity to outline some of the things I fell are currently wrong with my party, and see what the other side thinks. Anyway, lets begin-

1. Get back to Reagan. People liked him. People don’t like current conservative leaders too much. Why? They can sometimes come off as offensive and mean. They are too critical of Obama, just because he’s a liberal. Even though the other side didn’t always respect our President, that doesn’t mean we can’t respect him.

2. Obama’s school speech. I think it was a great idea. Whats wrong with the President telling kids to stay and school and focus? Nothing. No one had a problem when Reagan and Bush did it, so whats the problem when Obama does it?

3. Infighting. It’s gotten alot better, but when Rush says something critical of you, ignore it. Don’t acknowledge it. Michael Steele, I’m looking at you. Also, when Rush calls your new plan to give the party a new image a Republican party re-branding and calls you out for it, you don’t cancel it. That just makes people think he is the Republican Party’s leader.

And most importantly, when you do get back in power, don’t screw up like you did last time. During the Bush years, you couldn’t tell the difference between a Democrat and Republican. Now that were out of power, suddenly were conservative? No, it don’t work that way. Liberals have always been liberal, when in power, and out. Conservatives don’t just get to be conservative when their out of power. We need to be conservative at all times.

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[Edited by mgmt. DO NOT copy-and-paste entire news articles. Also, diaries should contain original content.]

LITTLE ROCK – State Senate President Pro Tem Bob Johnson, D-Bigleow, said Friday he is considering challenging U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln in the 2010 Democratic primary.

“I’m at a very early stage right now of trying to determine whether or not it’s right,” Johnson told the Arkansas News Bureau.

Johnson, 45, said others have urged him to run.

http://arkansasnews.com/2009/0…

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