Daily Kos: Democrat Senate Candidate Recruitment Woes
Looks like trouble is ahead for Senator Charles Schumer, D-New York, Chairman of the Democrat Senatorial Campaign Committee, the Daily Kos and assorted Lefties are already whining about their 2006 prospects, Dem Senate Candidate Recruitment Woes.
The 2006 mid-term Senate elections are now just 16 months away. Given how expensive state-wide elections are these days, it’s imperative to get an early start. But the Dems seem to be faring pretty poorly at recruiting candidates in a bunch of key Republican-held states
Bob Brigham has the full details – here’s the summary:
OH: The state GOP is mired in scandal. In Survey USA’s last 50-state poll, OH had one of the two lowest Bush approval ratings for a red state. And yet, we have no one running. (Though hopefully Sherrod Brown will.)NV: The red state with the lowest Bush approval rating. And yet – gack – it appears that Harry Reid is giving John Ensign a free pass. I can’t stomach things like that.
IN: With Tim Roemer out, this seat is probably hopeless. As Bob observes, the guy wanted to run the whole party, but doesn’t want to even take a stab at his home-state Senate seat? C’mon.
ME: Olympia Snowe is actually more popular among Dems than Republicans. But Bush is hated up in ME. It’s well past time we try linking these so-called GOP “moderates” to the radical extremists in their party – a vote for Snowe is a vote for Frist/Lott/DeLay politics. We need someone who can draw that connection.
VA: No sign of Mark Warner running here yet.
MO: Nada, as far as I know.
PENNSYLVANIA: Rick Santorum is an anti-women theocon. The party bosses cleared the field for anti-women theocon Bob Casey, Jr. To date, the DSCC has failed to recruit a non-theocon for the race.
In Montana, Democrats have a dream candidate in Jon Tester. But we’re looking very weak everywhere else. And Nevada, what the fuck is up with that? Watching the DSCC flail and fail at candidate recruitment, I think it is clear that the top-down, Washington based days of candidate recruitment are over. It is time for the grassroots to run candidates, let the voters decide instead of the bosses, and get some movement. Once, the party committees were the only game in town, now they are one of many committees. Their relevance has been sinking for years and refusing to recruit and/or doing a piss-poor job is only reminding everyone they aren’t as relevant as they were and not as useful as they could be. It is still early, so maybe Schumer can turn it around. But in the first half of 2005, it is clear to all he has failed.
We do have some good candidates elsewhere, particularly Jon Tester in Montana. And I realize we have to play defense in a number of Dem-held states, such as Florida and Minnesota. But if we ever want to retake the Senate, we have to play more than a little offense too. Chuck Schumer, all eyes are on you.
Hugh Hewitt thinks their difficulty in recruiting good candidates is because of their bankrupt conspiracy theories and positions on the GWOT and the hole they are digging themselves on the upcoming SCOTUS nomination hearings.
Flap agrees but will go further – the Democrats have no issues upon which to campaign against an incumbent Senator. Historically, most Senators are re-elected unless their constituents perceive the country heading in the wrong direction or their Senator is not representing their state.
Senator Schumer has a tough job at the DSCC.
Sixteen months before the election, Flap forsees few Democrat Senate gains.
And to compound Leftie misery, PoliPundit has this piece about a possible Republican pick-up of a seat in Vermont, 2006 Vermont Senate Race.
Bernie Sanders, the frontrunner for the Senate seat in Vermont, prides himself of never having to run a negative ad in his bids for the state’s lone seat. Republicans hope that their nominee, Richard Tarrant, a likely self-funder, can spend a few million dollars knocking Sanders’ favorable ratings down. Given Sanders public pronouncements on both domestic and foreign policy, the possibilities are endless.
As I have said in the past, I am of two minds on this one. While I believe that the open Senate seat and the presence of a very strong Republican candidate presents the possibility of a pick-up where we least expected it (tempting), I also think that Republicans might benefit from having Sanders in the Senate so that every Democrat can have his or her record compared to his at election time (just as tempting).
Yup, a tough row to hoe, Chuckie!