Nate Silver at 538 provides us with his "Senate Rankings, April 2009 Edition." Connecticut is the only Democratic seat in the top 8, which also features: 1) NH, 2) PA, 3) MO, 4) KY, 6) OH, 7) FL, 8) NC. Sounds spot on; and, finally North Carolina is getting its due as a battleground on the 2010 Senate map.
WaPo's Cillizza releases his latest Friday Line focused on interesting primary races. While the list is dominated by gubernatorial primaries, a few 2010 Senate primaries are on the list: 1) PA-GOP; 7) NY-Dem; and, 8) KS-GOP. The Pennsylvania Republican Senate primary will be amazingly entertaining; but, the NY-Dem 2010 Senate primary doesn't have any official primary opponent for Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, and the KS-GOP 2010 Senate primary is a battle between the ice cream flavors of Conservative Vanilla and Extra Conservative Vanilla. Meanwhile, the jockeying in the FL-GOP 2010 Senate primary and the action on both sides of Kentucky's 2010 Senate primaries all promise exciting races - and just wait for former state Treasurer Sarah Steelman to lean into Roy Blunt in the MO-GOP 2010 Senate primary. Even the brewing Senate primary in the UT-GOP could provide more fireworks than the KS-GOP. Which primaries are you most looking forward to?
Louisiana: The latest rumor concerning a possible 2010 Senate Republican primary challenger to Hookerlover David Vitter surrounds none other than Gov. Bobby Jindal. Apparently, the state budget situation is so bad in Louisiana that Jindal would be better off in D.C. than taking heat for fiscal problems in Baton Rouge. With Sarah Palin defusing talk of a 2010 Senate Republican primary challenge to Lisa Murkowski, we need another Republican Governor vs. Senator squabble. And Jindal still has yet to formally endorse Vitter for re-election. Stay tuned.
Kentucky: Kentucky state House Speaker (and former state Attorney General) Greg Stumbo will reportedly join state Auditor Crit Luallen and Congressmen Ben Chandler and John Yarmuth in endorsing state Attorney General Jack Conway for Senate in the Democratic primary over Lt. Gov. Dan Mongiardo. In other news, Louisville's Fox affiliate, Fox 41, positively tore Jim Bunning apart in its Point of View editorial segment for being incredibly rude to members of the press meeting with Kentucky's federal delegation. Hilarious! (It may take a moment for the video to play. If you have any trouble viewing it below, Politico also has the video up, in addition to the Fox 41 website.)
Iowa: Growing discontent with Chuck Grassley among Iowa conservatives may lead to a primary challenge in Grassley's 2010 Senate re-election bid:
U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) may face a conservative opponent in the 2010 primary election, after angering many Iowa conservatives by refusing to back a constitutional amendment protecting marriage in his home state.
Just days after the Iowa Supreme Court ruled in favor of homosexual marriage, Grassley told the Des Moines Register that he was not going to weigh in on the issue just yet. ...
Last fall, after voting for President Bush's $850 billion bank bailout, Grassley received an icy reception at the Iowa Republican Convention. It was especially noticeable because he spoke after U.S. Reps. Tom Latham and Steve King, both of whom had voted against the bailout, and both of whom received standing ovations. ...
Now, a small but growing number of Republicans are talking about the need for a primary opponent against Grassley in 2010. ...
Conservative radio host Steve Deace, whose afternoon talk show on the 50,000-watt WHO, draws perhaps the most rock-ribbed Republicans voters in the state.
In a state where voters nearly always prefer to return incumbents rather than throw them out, Deace's program receives phone calls every day from Republican listeners who want to sound off against "establishment" GOP politicians.
As for Deace, he points to Grassley's pork-barrel rain forest project of 2005, his ongoing investigation of Christian television ministries, and his 2002 endorsement of moderate U.S. Rep. Greg Ganske over conservative former marine Bill Salier in the senate race against Tom Harkin.
Remember that Grassley is no favorite of fiscal conservatives like the GOP-primary-encouraging Club for Growth either. I wouldn't be remotely shocked by a primary challenge to Grassley's right flank.
Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), facing increasingly difficult odds in 2010, is spending the two-week recess barnstorming his home state to try to improve his political standing. ...
The appearances are part of a series dubbed "Banking for Change," meant to highlight Dodd's work on consumer protection issues as chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. ...
Dodd spent much of the past week focusing on the economy, heading up a listening tour of the Nutmeg State. He met with local fire officials on federal grant issues and with union leaders to discuss defense contracts. He also invited Hartford-area business owners to offer their take on the stimulus bill during a joint stop with House Democratic Caucus Chairman John Larson (D-Conn.).
In addition to these much needed outreach events, I hope that Senator Dodd is planning on, at some point soon, directly addressing in one fell swoop the concerns that Connecticut voters have about him (founded or unfounded), including his recent mortgage controversy and his role in working to curb AIG bonuses. Rip it off like a band-aid and take those issues off the table.
Nevada: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is on the brink of having his first non-indicted Republican opponent in the person of former state Assemblywoman Sharron Angle. Offering perspective on the limited impact of her potential campaign, she says that her goal is to raise $100,000 by May, a small fraction of what it would take to wage a Senate campaign against Senator Reid.
New Hampshire: Continuing the string of loser Republican candidates, 1996 Republican gubernatorial nominee Ovide Lamontagne is reportedly very interested in running for Senate in 2010. Now-Senator Jeanne Shaheen won her first term for Governor in 1996 against Lamontagne, crushing the Republican 57-40.
Texas: In the still-hypothetical race to succeed Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison if/when she resigns her Senate seat in pursuit of the Texas Governor's office, Republican Congresswoman Kay Granger has withdrawn from consideration and announced her support for Republican former Secretary of State Roger Williams to succeed KBH.
