GOP sees chance to pick up seats in 2010-Obama put many Dem Stars in Cabinet

[RamboLiberal]

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Brian Walsh, a spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, acknowledged "another challenging election cycle" for the party, with Republicans having to defend 19 of 36 Senate seats, including three in politically important states -- Florida, Ohio and Missouri -- where incumbents are retiring. But, Walsh added, with Obama's Cabinet selections "a number of opportunities exist that weren't there several months ago."

Democratic strategists agree.

Start with Arizona. Obama's selection of Gov. Janet Napolitano to head the Department of Homeland Security turned her office over to the Republican secretary of state, Jan Brewer. That gives Brewer an edge to win a full term as governor and almost certainly ends the chances for a 2010 Senate race that Democrats would love to have seen: Napolitano vs. Sen. John McCain.

Similarly, the appointment of former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack as Agriculture secretary thwarted Democratic hopes he would take on longtime Republican Sen. Charles E. Grassley. In Kansas, the selection of Gov. Kathleen Sebelius as secretary of Health and Human Services has greatly diminished Democrats' chances of picking up that state's open Senate seat.

"They had a short list of Democrats that could make the Kansas race competitive and Obama wiped that list out completely with one choice," said Nathan Gonzales, who tracks campaigns for the Rothenberg Political Report, another nonpartisan newsletter.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/washingtondc/la-na-gop9-2009mar09,0,6790662.story

I admit this has bugged me a bit - that Obama put so many of our rising stars in his cabinet somewhat hurting the 50 state effort.

[Cha]

1. Yeah, bugged

me too. They had to have known the political repercussions of these appointees and you'd think they'd have something in mind to fill the void.

[glowing]

2. Perhaps we don't need so many of these stars tripping over the media's teleprompters

and trying to outshine Obama's recovery initiatives.. Perhaps this is the time for us to find our progressive candidates and push them into the Senate.

[Uzybone]

7. Amen to that

I sick of this defeatist attitude that says because these democrats chose to serve in the cabinet, then we are doomed. Instead of hand wringing, let us find good candidates to run for office.

[DJ13]

3. If the Republicans continue to be seen as obstructionists it wont happen

[w4rma]

4. I disagreed with all three of these picks to his cabinet. Poor tactics, among other reasons. (nt)

[FrenchieCat]

5. A bird in the hand is worth two in the Bush......

No one knows if Napolitano would beat McCain out of his seat....diddo for Sebelius or Vilsak.

It's all speculation about something that we will never know.

The country needs fixing now, not in 2010!

[Divine Discontent]

14. yes, we need to preserve our country, the elections will take care of themselves - even if we have

years of hard recovery - it's better we have the best people Pres. O can get so we have a 'nation' to have elections in 20 months.

[Juche]

6. Yeah, it was a mistake

We could've won Kansas, Iowa & Arizona in 2010.

But at the same time 538 says of the 15 races most likely to change parties, 9bare GOP and the top 6 are all GOP. Of the dem seats, most are in heavily dem territory where I don't see the GOP picking up seats. NV & CO have gone dem in part to the latino vote. The northeast (CT & DE) don't seem too likely either. Maybe IL and NY, but that is about it.

Of the 6 races most likely to change (all GOP again) 4 are open with no incumbent and one is Bunning, who is hated. We could get 64 seats in 2010.


http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2009/03/senate-rankings-march-2009-edition.html

[Massacure]

9. 64 seats in the Senate would be fun.

President Obama could pretty much push whatever he wants as long as we keep a decent majority in the House.

[rockymountaindem]

8. Not if the Republicans keep going on this self-immolation kick they're on n/t

[NYC Liberal]

10. Except that these now-cabinet members will have even more impact

when they go home and campaign for Democratic candidates. Just because they aren't running themselves, doesn't mean they are out of the picture.

[camera obscura]

13. Eh, that excuse doesn't fly. Kansas has virtually no other Democrats who could win the Senate.

Three Republicans have already announced their intentions to run. No Democrats have. The current Lt. Gov will not run for re-election or Senate. Good Kansas Democrats are about as common as Rhode Island Republicans.

[digidigido]

15. Blame Daschel

[ProSense]

11. I bet the GOP also sees the chance of losing seats. Seriously,

in this give and take, the demoralized, flailing and rudderless GOP better worry about what they stand to lose.

[camera obscura]

12. That definitely annoyed and disappointed me, especially the Sebelius pick.

While I'm sure they'll all do well, I felt that none of those people were so overly qualified that nobody else could perform their cabinet jobs just as well as they could. And on the other hand, as far as Senate pickups go, that was a once-in-a-lifetime shot for Kansas, and probably the same for Arizona.