Sestak Ramping Up Against Specter     Permalink

Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA) is ramping up his near-certain campaign against Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA). As expected, Sestak is attacking Specter as a "flight risk," saying that although he is currently a Democrat, before that he was a Republican and before that he was a Democrat. Sestak is saying that Specter's only loyalty is to Specter, whereas he is loyal to the Democratic Party. Of course, with the entire Democratic Party establishment on board for Specter, Sestak has a serious uphill climb. A recent Rasmussen poll puts Specter ahead 51% to 32%. On the other hand, Barack Obama started out way behind Hillary Clinton last year.

Gillibrand Piling Up Endorsements     Permalink

Next door to Pennsylvania, in New York, the establishment-backed incumbent, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), is not standing still--in preparation for a primary challenge from Rep. Carolyn Maloney. She has now gotten the chairmen of 52 of New York's 62 counties to endorse her. Her voting behavior has also changed since she was appointed to Hillary Clinton's Senate seat: she has become the 4th most liberal senator, in the expectation that Maloney will attack her from the left. These two states will form an interesting contrast: a former Republican turned Democrat in Pennsylvania and a former moderate turned liberal in New York. Also, in both cases the establishment backs the incumbent and in both cases the incumbent will have much more money than the challenger. But primaries have small turnouts with a heavy dose of party activists, so even incumbents have to worry.

Steelman Unlikely to Run for Bond's Senate Seat in Missouri     Permalink

The Hill is reporting that Missouri Treasurer Sarah Steelman is more likely to run for the House than for the Senate. This would eliminate a potentially very nasty Republican primary and start the general election campaign between Robin Carnahan (D) and Roy Blunt (R) immediately. The House seat Steelman would run for is the one Blunt is vacating. Not having a bloody primary improves the Republicans' chances of holding the seat of retiring Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO).

Madigan May Run for Burris' Seat in Illinois     Permalink

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan (D) is being encouraged by top Democrats to run for the Senate instead of governor in 2010. She would be an extremely strong candidate against any Republican but would first have to defeat Bobby Kennedy's son, Chris Kennedy, and state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias for the Democratic nomination.

Burr Trails Generic Democrat in North Carolina Poll     Permalink

A new PPP poll shows that Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) ought to be worried sick. Only 29% of North Carolina voters think he deserves a second term and Generic Democrat beats him 41% to 38%. However, the Democrats can't run Generic against him. They have to come up with an actual, live Democrat and so far they have been unable to do so. Gov. Mike Easley and Attorney General Roy Cooper, the two strongest candidates, have said they don't want the job. No doubt DSCC chairman Bob Menendez is beating the bushes to find some current or former state senator who wants to go to Washington, but so far he hasn't found anyone. This is even more surprising since Sen. Kay Hagan (D-NC) won an upset victory in 2008 against a far stronger Republican, Elizabeth Dole.

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