Republican Senate

Tipping his hand for the first time, Hagel for Senate announced two fundraisers schedule for next month. The announcement sets the stage for a divisive primary, splitting the Hagel/Heineman and Bruning/Osbourne factions of the Party.  According to a poll released by the Bruning camp, Bruning leads Hagel by nine points in the primary, but the […]

Sen. Elizabeth Dole got a break when Gov. Mike Easley decided not to challenge her.  Now, though, the Democrats may have found another challenger in Rep. Brad Miller.  Miller canceled the kickoff of his House campaign to reconsider a Senate bid.  He’s  is no Easley, but the third term Democrat has managed to win in a reasonably […]

Yesterday Rep. Peter DeFazio announced that he will not challenge incumbent Sen. Gordon Smith.  This leaves Oregon Democrats struggling to find a viable candidate, which will not be an easy task now that a sitting Congressman, who led Smith in the polls, has declined.  So desperate for DeFazio was the DSCC that it had offered […]

Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning reversed course this week and said that he will now decide on a Senate bid independent of whether incumbent Sen. Chuck Hagel seeks reelection.  He formed an exploratory committee last month to take a look at a bid in the event that Hagel decided not to seek reelection.  Bruning attributed […]

Some Democrats have seemed downright giddy about the prospect of Sen. Pete Domenici being surprisingly vulnerable due to allegations of impropriety with regard to the Iglesias scandal.  Now, though, it appears that they may be willing to throw in the towel.  Apparently, Patricia Madrid, who lost to Rep. Heather Wilson last year in what was […]

At one time, Democrats considered Sen. Gordon Smith extremely vulnerable.  Then former Gov. John Kitzhaber decided against a challenge.  Rep. Peter DeFazio followed suit, leaving the Democrats struggling to find a challenger.  Now, they’re having such great success that former Portland Mayor Vera Katz said this week, “I hate to say this, but I don’t […]

Today, attorney Mike Ciresi declared his candidacy for Senate, touting an agenda far further left than that of his moderate opponent.  This is an important catch for the DSCC, who fears that the nomination of Al Franken would result in a Coleman blowout.  While his last bid for office, a shot at the same seat […]

Today, the Supreme Court reversed course on its abortion jurisimprudence and upheld the federal ban on partial-birth abortion.  As someone who expressed doubts about the Roberts nomination, I am relieved to see that he has not gone down the path of the author of the opinion by disappointing those who supported his nomination once on […]

Rebekah Kennedy, a member of the Green Party in Arkansas, has announced that she will challenge Sen. Mark Pryor next year.  It’s a bad sign when the Green Party has a candidate before the GOP does, but this is good news.  Pryor remains the odds-on favorite in the race regardless of which Republican decides to take […]

Sen. Joe Lieberman has decided to tick off the left still more by endorsing Sen. Susan Collins in her bid for reelection.  The decision makes it clear that Sen. Lieberman and the Senate Democrats still have a ways to go in making nice-nice, and suggests that Republicans may yet be able to gain control of […]