Former Colorado State House Speaker Andrew Romanoff will announce on Wednesday that he will run in next year's Senate primary. The primary pits him against Senator Michael Bennet who was appointed to the seat after Ken Salazar left the Senate for the Department of the Interior.
Romanoff, often credited with helping Democrats take back the majority in the state House, will challenge fellow Democrat and appointee Sen. Michael Bennet in a primary election. State term limits barred Romanoff from seeking re-election last year. - Denver Post
They're dropping like flies in the race to take over what was Obama's Senate seat in 2010. We learned yesterday that Burris isn't going to run for the seat Blago so graciously gave him. Now the Republican favorite for the seat is out.
Illinois Rep. Mark Kirk (R) will not run for the open seat of Sen. Roland Burris (D) in 2010, a stunning reversal from just 48 hours ago when Kirk signaled to National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Cornyn (Texas) that he would make the race.
Kirk's decision, a blow to Senate Republicans' chances in Illinois, came in the wake of Burris' formal retirement this afternoon. - The Fix
Kirk told Roll Call over the phone Friday that he was still discussing the race with McKenna going into the weekend and that a published Washington Post report that he was dropping out of the race was incorrect.
The state party chairman, Andy McKenna, is the one stumbling block preventing the GOP’s leading recruit, Rep. Mark Kirk, from officially announcing he’s running for the Senate.
Kirk, who has been courted by national Republicans for months, told party officials today that he would only be running if they ensured that McKenna won’t be challenging him in a primary.
McKenna was originally planning to run only if Kirk passed on the Senate race, but he had become angered over Kirk’s vote in favor of cap-and-trade energy legislation -- and has told GOP officials he wouldn’t necessarily step aside.
Republican officials have now been pressuring McKenna, who served as Kirk's first campaign finance director, to step aside. He will be making a final decision over the weekend, according to Illinois GOP sources.
Forty-eight hours ago, it seemed like the Republican establishment in Missouri would be supporting Roy Blunt and the only potential serious opponent in the primary was Sarah Steelman. Amazing how two days can be an eternity in politics.
There are now reports of a potential third candidate on the Republican side. The potential candidate is Thomas Schweich who served as an Ambassador under the Bush Administration with the specific assignment of counter-narcotics and judicial reform in Afghanistan. It is not this background which is making Ambassadr Schweich seem like a potentially serious candidate. It's the names pushing him. Right now, the people encouraging him to run are former Senator Jack Danforth and former Ambassador Bert Walker (of the Walkers that gave their name to the Walker cup and the W. in George W. Bush). In short, Ambassador Schweich is the candidate of that dwindling breed of somewhat moderate country club/business Republicans.
While Ambassador Schweich would be a long shot in a two-way primary, he looks a lot more viable if there is a three-way primary. Assuming that he gets in, you would have a battle between the new Republican establishment (represented by Roy "K Street" Blunt, the old ancien regime Republican establishment (represented by Ambassador Schweich), and the populist grass roots revolutionaries (represented in a convincing "Romney-esque 180 degree flip flop on every major issue" imitation of the real thing by Sarah Steelman).
This primary battle would be so good and so bloody, Missouri Democrats would be tempted to sell popcorn to the show. And afterwords, when the Republicans are unable to pick up the pieces, we will be welcoming Senator Robin Carnahan to D.C.
One of the advantages of the number of folks on this website is that we represent a national group which means that each of us can provide some of the local flavor for the 2010 races in our area. So as a starting point, here is my introduction to Missouri for those from elsewhere.
In many ways, Missouri has traditionally been a typical slice of Mid-America. The rural area in the southern part of the state forms a border for the South with many of the tendencies of their brethren in Arkansas and and Appalchia. The rural area in the northern part of the state is part of the farm belt.
There are four major cities worth noting specifically. On the eastern and western borders of the state, you have Kansas City and St. Louis. For Democrats, that's our base. For the Republicans, they are the two thorns in the side of what would otherwise be a red state. In the center of the state, you have Columbia -- home to the University of Missouri and a blue outpost in a sea of red. Finally, you have Springfield down in the Southwestern part of the state -- a traditional base for the GOP but one in which we are starting to make some small in-roads.
There are 114 counties in the Missouri and the City of St. Louis is considered to be in our legal terminology "a City not within a County" which means that it functions as both a city and a county. There is also a St. Louis County which surrounds the City causing no end of confusion to discussions of Missouri politics. In addition, for election purposes, Jackson County on the west side of the state is split into two jurisdictions -- that portion of Kansas City inside Jackson County (and some parts of Kansas City goes into neighboring counties) and the rest of Jackson County.
First minor legal detail to note. Six of the election jurisdictions (St. Louis City, St. Louis County, Kansas City, Jackson County, Clay County, and Platte County -- with Clay and Platte bordering Jackson County) have election boards composed of 2 Democrats and 2 Republicans appointed by the governor and confirmed by the State Senate. The remaining 110 are run by locally elected people (in most counties, the county clerk). In the counties with an election board, the election board appoints election judges. In the other counties, the parties provide a list of possible election judges and the local election authority is supposed to pick from them if the parties provide enough names (twice the number needed). However, if the party fails to provide the names, the county clerk gets to pick whomever he/she wants. In theory, there are supposed to be an equal number of Democratic Judges and Republican Judges in each precinct, but since we don't have voter registration, if the party does not get enough names to the county clerk, we are basically screwed.
One of the advantages of the number of folks on this website is that we represent a national group which means that each of us can provide some of the local flavor for the 2010 races in our area. So as a starting point, here is my introduction to Missouri for those from elsewhere.
