links for 2010-02-15

Today's surprise retirement of Indiana Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh has given Republicans new hope of taking back the Senate in 2010.

It would be a long shot: Republicans would need to win just about every competitive race there is, plus pull off what now seems like a stunner in a state like Washington or Wisconsin.

But it's happened before. Just look at 1994, when the GOP went 11 for 11 in targeted contests.

Here is our latest handicapping of the ten most vulnerable Senate seats of 2010:

North Dakota
Delaware
Indiana
Arkansas
Nevada
Colorado
Pennsylvania
California
New York
Ohio
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Will the GOP be able to capture the Senate majority?

With Bayh's retirement, it may be possible.

So, is California's brittle Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer about to become the next Harry Reid? Which is to say, embattled at home.

As Reid worked the wallets of San Francisco on Presidents' Day to raise money for his endangered seat in Nevada, some stunning new Rasmussen Reports poll out today makes a compelling point:

For the second straight month the three-term senator is unable to break the 50% mark against any potential Republican opponents, the historical measuring mark of vulnerability for an incumbent nine months before an election.

Ken Starr, the constitutional lawyer who conducted the independent counsel investigation that led to the impeachment of President Bill Clinton, has been selected as the new president of Baylor University in Waco, Texas and will assume the post in June, Starr and the school said Monday.

Since 2004, Starr has served as dean of Pepperdine Law School in Malibu, Calif. He first accepted that job back in 1996 but later backed away after critics said his work at the school, which is funded largely by conservative donors, could have conflicted with his work as a special prosecutor.
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Pepperdine Law School's loss