NRSC Chair John Cornyn addressed the wingnut convention at CPAC and listed some NRSC targets for 2010:
He identified open seats in Ohio, Missouri and Florida that the party will target and added that "unexpected opportunities" to gain Senate seats may arise in New York, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Arkansas, Colorado, Nevada, and California.
Pssst, John, Ohio, Missouri and Florida are already Republican-held seats. Republicans are not working to pick those seats up, but rather simply to retain them due to upcoming Republican retirements. As for Republicans' dim prospects in those other states, I'll be elaborating soon on Republicans' weakness when it comes to potentially picking up seats in 2010, from top-tier Republicans turning down Senate bids to Republican candidates under indictment to simply empty GOP benches.
National Journal ranked the members of the U.S. Senate based on liberal-conservative ratings. Extract from it what you will.
Electronic filing for Senate campaign finance reports? Yes! Please! (It's telling that the obstacle for the legislation was a hold on it placed by last cycle's NRSC Chair, John Ensign of Nevada.)
Louisiana: Enter a new possible Republican primary opponent to prostitute-lovin' David Vitter. Former Congressman John Cooksey appears to be interested:
Moreover, sources close to the Monroe Ophthalmologist say that the retired member of Congress is very interested. So interested, in fact, that he is willing to commit a sizable portion of his personal savings to a campaign against the incumbent Republican Senator.
"John is willing to put up $200,000 of his own money to take on Vitter. He only wants to know that there is public support for a run," said a senior advisor to the former Congressman-who asked not to be named.
Cooksey may be most notoriously remembered for his racist comments on how to profile for possible terrorists:
Cooksey told media members that the investigation should focus on someone wearing a "diaper on his head and a fan belt wrapped around the diaper," a reference to turbans worn by some Muslims.
When you couple that with reports that David Vitter indulged in a diaper fetish when spending time with the prostitutes he solicited, you have to ask, "What is this obsession Louisiana Republicans have with diapers?!"
Minnesota: From the thousands of properly rejected absentee ballots that Republican Norm Coleman wanted re-reviewed for inclusion in the vote tally, it looks like an estimated 1,500 will be re-reviewed. While this may give Coleman a glimmer of hope, he shouldn't get too excited. While these 1,500 or so may be re-reviewed, they still contain significant problems that could likely lead to many/most of them being re-tossed out.
Meanwhile, though it looked like the Coleman camp caught a break regarding certain testimony, they may have shot themselves in the foot by continuing to withhold evidence and information. Bear with me because this may be confusing - translating Coleman hijinks often is. The Coleman camp's evidence-free theory that some votes were double counted rests largely on the testimony of Minneapolis poll worker Pamela Howell. Howell's testimony was thrown out earlier this week when it was revealed that she had a series of e-mail correspondences with the Coleman camp that was not disclosed to the legal team for Senator-elect Al Franken. However, the three-judge panel gave Coleman a break when they allowed Howell's testimony back in after deeming the Coleman lawyers' wrongdoing to be an honest mistake.
Well, an honest mistake it wasn't. Howell was put back on the stand, her testimony now counting; and, in the Franken camp's re-cross examination of the already-questionable witness, it comes out that there was further correspondence that was not disclosed! The Coleman lawyers are very clearly trying to sneak as much as they can under the radar of the three-judge panel and the Franken legal team. It's simply ridiculous. The Franken legal team responded that the witness' testimony should be re-tossed along with the entire notion of double-counting of ballots:
Lillehaug demanded that not only should Howell's testimony be re-stricken, but that Coleman's entire claim about double-counting be tossed.
"And it is clear from contestants strategy in this regard that Ms. Howell was their star witness on the issue of original and duplicate ballots," Lillehaug said. "They picked out one election judge from one precinct -- she's the only election judge they're presenting on this claim - and then yesterday documents were offered and admitted into evidence based on that precinct and nine other precincts. It is clear that her testimony was the linchpin for the Coleman original and duplicate ballots claim."
Lillehaug said they should not have to go back to the drawing board to figure out how to cross-examine her, and thus her testimony must be struck, and with it the entire double-counting claim for all precincts.
Like I've said before, Norm Coleman's credibility is down to zero. It would seem that Coleman's lawyers are doing all they can to remind the three-judge panel of this. A decision on the Franken motion of re-striking Howell's testimony may come on Monday.
Missouri: Republican Roy Blunt may already be violating campaign finance standards by not collecting the proper donor disclosure information on online contributions. That's just how Jack Abramoff Republicans like Roy Blunt roll. Oh, also, Blunt repeatedly lies about what is in President Obama's economic stimulus bill. Stay classy, Roy. Penrose hits the nail on the head:
Illinois: Governor Pat Quinn continues to talk up a special election if Roland Burris resigns or is removed from office. Meanwhile, former Commerce Secretary and Mayoral brother William Daley is rumored to be preparing a 2010 Senate bid. That would be massive in terms of IL-Dem politics.
Kentucky: Perhaps he was half-joking (you never know with this guy), but Republican Jim Bunning seemed to suggest that, if Republican leadership hindered him in his re-election effort (as GOP chieftains have made no secret of their preference for his retirement), he would resign his seat, allowing Kentucky's Democratic Governor to appoint a (presumably Democratic) replacement. That would certainly give Bunning "the last laugh," as Bunning put it. In other news, if Bunning does wind up retiring, Ron Paul's son will run for the seat.
Utah: Republican state Attorney General Mark Shurtleff confirms that he is considering a 2010 Senate primary challenge to Bob Bennett. It may be difficult for Democrats to directly benefit from this, but, anytime there's a circular political firing squad in the GOP, it's helpful.
New Hampshire & Florida: If former U.S. Senator from New Hampshire Bob Smith makes another run for Senate, it would be from Florida, not New Hampshire, if at all. |
