Maloney Will Challenge Gillibrand     Permalink

Despite repeated requests from the entire Democratic Party establishment to stay put--from the President on down--as well as her friends, Rep. Carolyn Maloney appears set to challenge Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) in a primary next year. It will be a tough fight for her because party leaders are doing their best to cut off her sources of funding and isolate her in every way they can. The President has already said that he would actively campaign for Gillibrand in New York City, which is Maloney's base. While Maloney's argument is that she is more liberal than Gillibrand, the senator has been rapidly changing some of the more conservative positions she took while representing a rural upstate district and she has achieved one of the most liberal voting records in the Senate. The bottom line is that Maloney feels it was her turn to become a senator and she clearly resents a newbie getting the job.

Sununu Will Not Run for Senate in New Hampshire     Permalink

Former senator John Sununu has decided against running for the Senate, despite urgings from state Republicans. He is probably the strongest candidate the Republicans had for the open seat being vacated by Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH). The Democratic nominee, Rep. Paul Hodes (D-NH), can thus breathe a bit easier, although his fundraising to date has been weak.

Sixty is Not Forever     Permalink

The Democrats and friends now have 60 seats in the Senate, but the composition is not made of marble, like much of the chamber itself. Senators come and go, even between elections. The can die (e.g., Craig Thomas), resign (e.g., Hillary Clinton) or jump ship (e.g., Arlen Specter). Generally, when a Senate seat is vacant, the governor appoints the new senator until the next even-numbered year, although a few states (like Massachusetts) hold special elections. And in a couple of states (e.g., Wyoming), the governor must appoint someone from a list drawn up by the previous senator's party or at least a member of his party. But in all the other states, the governor has a free hand in picking the new senator (sometimes too free, as recent events in Illinois have demonstrated).

With this in mind, one could ask: "Which states have at least one senator not from the governor's party?" In the event of a vacancy in such a state, the governor might have the opportunity for mischief. The states with at least one Democratic senator and a Republican governor are: Alaska (Sarah Palin), California (Arnold Schwarzenegger), Connecticut (Jodi Rell), Florida (Charlie Crist), Hawaii (Linda Lingle), Indiana (Mitch Daniels), Lousiana (Bobby Jindal), Minnesota (Tim Pawlenty), Nevada (Jim Gibbons), Nebraska (Dave Heineman), North Dakota (John Hoeven), Rhode Island (Don Carcieri), South Dakota (Mike Rounds), and Vermont (James Douglas). Are any Democratic seats in danger there? The ones that come to mind first are the two in Hawaii. Daniel Inouye is 84 and Daniel Akaka is also 84. However, Hawaii law requires the (Republican) governor to pick someone from the previous senator's party (although it is not clear how long said person has to have been a member of the party) and she could certainly choose a weak and unknown Democrat--say the mayor of a small town--unlikely to win a special election. Sen Tim Johnson (D-SD) suffered cerebral bleeding in 2006 but has been making a slow recovery since then. Senators don't live forever and being a senator gives you great medical care but even people with great medical care can have heart attacks or be diagnosed with cancer.

What about Republican senators from states with a Democratic governor? These are: Iowa (Chet Culver), Kansas (Mark Parkinson), Kentucky (Steve Beshear), Maine (John Baldacci), Missouri (Jay Nixon), New Hampshire (John Lynch), North Carolina (Beverly Perdue), Ohio (Ted Strickland), Oklahoma (Brad Henry), Tennessee (Phil Bredesen), and Wyoming (Dave Freudenthal), Although Wyoming is one of the states that requires the governor to choose from a list drawn up by the previous incumbent's party. The only Republican senator who might conceivably be replaced by the other side's governor is Jim Bunning, who has threatened to resign if Mitch McConnell really turns the screws on him to prevent his reelection, but that is not a likely event. None of the Republican senators in these states is really elderly.

In addition, there are a number of states where a senator might be replaced by someone of his own party, such as would happen if Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) should die or resign as the governor of West Virginia, Joe Manchin, is a Democrat.

In general, it is surprising how many blue states have Republican governors or senators and how many red states have Democratic governors or senators. Here is the list. It is located on the "Data galore" page in case you wish to refer to it in the future. Columns 2-4 refer to the 2008 presidential election. The last three columns refer to the House delegation. The seats marked with an asterisk are up for election in 2009 or 2010. The data are available here in .csv format

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