Here’s a crushing blow from Sen. Byron Dorgan of North Dakota:
“Although I still have a passion for public service and enjoy my work in the Senate, I have other interests and I have other things I would like to pursue outside of public life. I have written two books and have an invitation from a publisher to write two more books. I would like to do some teaching and would also like to work on energy policy in the private sector.
“So, over this holiday season, I have come to the conclusion, with the support of my family, that I will not be seeking another term in the U.S. Senate in 2010. It is a hard decision to make after thirty years in the Congress, but I believe it is the right time for me to pursue these other interests.
“Let me be clear that this decision does not relate to any dissatisfaction that I have about serving in the Senate. Yes, I wish there was less rancor and more bipartisanship in the U.S. Senate these days. But still, it is a great privilege to serve and I have the utmost respect for all of the men and women with whom I serve.
Dorgan may disappoint from time to time on certain votes, but he’s miles ahead of his North Dakotan colleague, Kent Conrad. Dorgan is a prairie populist from the old school and a damn good legislator, too. And, unless there’s something I don’t know, there is a near 100% chance that the Republicans will pick up this open seat in November. I expect that Governor John Hoeven will now get in the race. The only positive is that Dorgan can now vote his conscience without worrying how it will impact his reelection prospects.
Perhaps BooManTribune’s NorthDakotaDemocrat would consider running.
Woe, that’s no good. That makes passing the health care bill in this congress even more important, those 60 votes won’t be around very much longer. Bummer.
My thought too. They had better get moving.
It’s Obama’s fault, of course.
The official party line is that Dorgan is leaving because the White House shot down his drug-reimportation amendment.
Think of it as going Galt, but in a good, progressive way.
Did they find some way to blame the other two retirements on Obama? :rolls eyes:
I am too tired to do a diary. But I don’t understand why there isn’t this massive “war mentality” among progressives right now.
There are very good reasons to be in action mode now–today! Most of my family lives in North Dakota. It is do-able. But it takes a crisis mentality. It takes a real effort. We have to realize that we need to stop trashing one another and start TODAY.
There’s this strange ambivalence that is going to defeat us. There are strong North Dakota candidates. For one, Ed Schultz would win in a heartbeat. My very Republican uncle thinks he’s smart as a whip!
Let’s go for it.
Unfortunately, Schultz moved to Detroit Lakes, MN two years ago and is not longer a resident of North Dakota. (per his tonight’s show)
Schultz was just contacted by the state party to run for Dorgan’s seat.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/06/ed-schultz-considers-bid_n_413086.html
also talk out there today about the Mass. special election — according to Rasmussen, Coakley is “only” ahead by 9 points.
As usual, Nate Silver has a sane take.
http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2010/01/rassachusetts.html
Surely something so horrible as Ted Kennedy’s seat going to a republican that would kill HCR could. not. happen……?
No doubt, any Democrat who runs now has to take on a popular three-term Republican governor, John Hoeven.
So the question is which two Republican seats can Democrats pick off as a swap?
NC, OH come to mind.
Ritter just quit the race for reelection to Governor of Colorado.
Good. He’s another blue dog corporate sell-out, and he’s anti-choice. Why the Dems would rally around someone like that in Colorado is beyond me.
Let’s try and recruit Hickenlooper (Denver’s mayor).
You might be interested in this commentary in the DP.
http://www.denverpost.com/ci_14129079
I blame Jane LIEberman of FDL and others for Dorgan and Dodd retiring. 🙂
Don’t flatter Jane Hamsher. She doesn’t have that much power and influence.
Both Dorgan and Dodd were getting iffy polling numbers against essentially country club Republicans (so much for their real interest in the Tea Party movement) for several months. And neither can be too happy with the turn of events on healthcare reform.
If Hamsher had influence it would be Nelson, Landrieu, Lincoln, Conrad, and yes Lieberman who would be retiring. But she doesn’t and neither does the rest of the blogosphere that has be watching this train wreck of a healthcare reform bill.
All good points, TarheelDem! I’m still livid with her, though. Her actions showed she is not in a powerful position, but rather, a weak desperate one. You watch….she’ll be backing right wing fringers this year to keep her quest of punishing the Democrats for not listening to her! Ugh. Sad. Pathetic.
I think we’ll have to wait and see on that one.
I think she’ll be all over financial industry reform. And whatever the follow-up to the healthcare reform bill is; that issue will not be dead, and it is to Democrats’ advantage to admit that it was highly compromised and that it can be fixed if there are some progressive Democrats who replace Republicans.
Most likely, she will join a rightwinger on a one-off basis only when she wants to take a slam at Rahm Emmanuel. As best I can tell, there is no permanent alliance.
“Most likely, she will join a rightwinger on a one-off basis only when she wants to take a slam at Rahm Emmanuel. As best I can tell, there is no permanent alliance.”
i think that’s an accurate statement. I wasn’t impressed with the hysteria over the norquist alliance, considering the ad hoc alliances formed by Accountability Now, which includes several libertarian and small government groups.
but then I’m a crank.
I don’t even care who you make alliances with. That wasn’t my beef. It’s how you do it, and in my opinion, she was allowing Norquist to control the narrative. That’s where you ask yourself if this alliance is helping or hurting your cause. When you get into alliances with people like Norquist, you need to be on your top guard, because they’re not in it for “both of you and the American people,” they’re in it for their own interests. Sure that is expected with all alliances, but with people like Norquist, it reigns supreme. It’s also why you never go on Fox…
Rick Warren, available to speak at your inauguration. Could some of the Hamsher haters explain away that arrangement? Or Geithner?
Hamsher haters? Do you get talking points from Jane Hamsher or something??? I can’t believe people are still defending her like this.
Why? I’m not happy that Dorgan is retiring, but I am quite glad that Dodd is retiring. It shows that Dodd really cares about what’s best for America, and not what’s best for Chris Dodd. He got a bad rap over the bailout; it’s ridiculous, but he did the right thing regarding that. It doesn’t appear that way to the populists, but he knows his chances were like 50/50, and that shouldn’t happen in CT. He’s retiring because a Republican might beat him, and he won’t let that happen.
Thank you for your public service, Senator Dodd, and for doing what’s best for America by being a real team player.
Wouldn’t Michael Moore’s shaming have more to do with Dodd’s exit? And the right-wing’s sound machine?
And maybe, just maybe, Dodd’s own private financial relationship with big money while hauling that horrid Bankruptcy Reform Bill across the finish line has something to do with his current unpopularity in Connecticut.
By the way, the sixty-vote supermajority hasn’t been very super. Maybe if we have an eight-vote supersupermajority…
…eighty-vote supermajority…
Dodd, as you suggest, may have some major skeletons in his closet related to the financial sector.
don’t be silly. Everyone knows Dorgan’s retirement is RAHM’s doing.
Why, the ever-gracious Jane herself even gave Rahm the credit.
“Energy policy in the private sector”? Did I hear a ka-ching?
Interesting catch. North Dakota sits on major energy resources. In Garrison, for example, they mine coal on one side of the road and transport it to a coal-fired electric generation plant on the other.
ND Minerals Division of Dept of Nat Resources estimates production of 80 million barrels of oil from ND’s “oil patch”.