In 2014, there will not be very many opportunities for Democrats to pick up seats in the Senate. For example, the Republicans will be defending seats in Alabama, Mississippi, Idaho, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska. Those don’t seem too promising, do they? Yet, if the Tea Party has their way, they will launch strong primary challenges against Lamar Alexander in Tennessee, Lindsey Graham in South Carolina, and Saxby Chambliss in Georgia. The Democrats need to be prepared with solid candidates to take advantage of Republican infighting in these red states. Control of the Senate may depend on it.
The only other obvious opportunities to gain seats are in Kentucky and Maine, but Mitch McConnell and Susan Collins are certainly not going to be easy to beat.
If KY’s willing to elect someone like Rand Paul to the Senate, I don’t think McConnell is going anywhere anytime soon.
Alison Lundergan Grimes for Senate in Kentucky. I didn’t think Rand Paul would win the primary, so let’s see how hard McConnell really is.
Tennessee is possible, as is Georgia. The rest I don’t see happening.
Max Cleland won in 1996 by 30,000 votes. And then lost six years later to Saxby Chambliss. Would be nice to see Cleland use the administration’s foreign policy successes to beat Chambliss around the ears. Cleland will be 72 in 2014.
A run of a Democrat against Lindsey Graham would benefit from a full-court press House campaign with strong candidates in all 7 of SC’s Congressional Districts. What is needed in candidates are folks who will actually talk straight and not in politicalese, go for broke on progressive positions, and are supported by a well-organized GOTV campaign. Politicians in one-party states get lazy over time and can be surprised. That’s how Republicans took over the South one seat at a time–Democrats who had the illusion that they were unbeatable or open seats that were considered shoo-ins. And then there’s Walter Jones who responded to being primaried out of “his daddy’s district” by becoming a Republican.
I feel ya. I hear ya.
He’ll always be Walter “Freedom Fries” Jones to me.
Best understood as Walter Jones (R-Camp Lejeune)
If Coburn doesn’t run for re-election (as I believe he has promised), and former Gov. Brad Henry will run for the open seat, then there might be a decent chance for an Oklahoma pickup.
It’s Inhofe who is up, and he’s going to be Ranking Member on Armed Services, with no interest in retiring.
Do you know anything about OK? Ever been there? It’s gonna take a RIABN to win as a Dem.
I believe that pretty much defines Brad Henry.
But these days those voters are holding out for real Tea Party Republicans. Has Imhofe become crazy enough to qualify?
I would like to see some candidate experiment with running as a populist progressive in Oklahoma–with a good volunteer organization. Do an every-county campaign, starting in Cimmaron County (90.4% Romney) and talk straight to these voters for the first time in a generation. Out of the gate, they would get 30% grace for talking straight.
The fact that anyone is asking that question is profoundly depressing.
The question is how much do they need to lose before either the Republican party adjusts back to normalcy or completely collapses on itself?
We can’t have just one viable party in this country, just talking to ourselves isn’t going to be good after awhile.