DSCC Could Hit Recruiting Mother Lode (Shaheen in NH, and Kerrey in NB)

[jefferson_dem]

DSCC Could Hit Recruiting Mother Lode
While Democratic strategists have not yet started to count their chickens, there is increasing evidence that two key Democrat Senate recruits are moving toward '08 Senate races.

Former New Hampshire Gov. Jeanne Shaheen, who narrowly lost a 2002 Senate race against Republican John Sununu, has reversed her earlier decision against running next year and, after a heavy recruiting effort by many Democrats, including Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy, appears to be leaning toward a re-match with Sununu.

Insiders stress that Shaheen has not made a final decision, but they agree that the betting at the Harvard Institute of Politics, where she is the director, and in savvy political circles in New Hampshire, is that she is now likely to enter the Senate race.

In Nebraska, former Senator (and former Governor) Bob Kerrey also appears to be inching toward entering the state’s Senate contest, assuming that incumbent Senator Chuck Hagel (R) decides not to seek reelection. Kerrey would not challenge Hagel if the Republican decides to seek another term, which many think is not likely.

Kerrey, who is telling friends that his wife has signed off on a Senate race, has already paid for a survey and contacted operatives who worked for him in the past. And he is the keynote speaker at this weekend’s annual Democratic event, the Morrison-Exon Dinner, on June 23. "He wouldn’t go and do the dinner if he wasn’t serious about the Senate," one knowledgeable Democratic insider told me.

Based on early recruiting, Democrats have so far put three GOP Senate seats in play, the open seat in Colorado and seats held by Norm Coleman (Minn.) and Susan Collins (Maine). They are still looking for a top tier candidate against Oregon’s Gordon Smith.

Democratic chances for another mega-year in the Senate would also be enhanced by possible additional Republican Senate retirements in Virginia and Nebraska.

-- Stuart Rothenberg is the editor of the Rothenberg Political Report.

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2007/06/21/dscc_could_hit_recruiting_mother_lode.html

[napi21]

1. I like Bob Kerrey. At least from what I've heard recently, he's sure not afraid of a fight with

ANYONE!

[GeorgeGist]

2. Buffalo Bob Kerrey ...

is a Lieberman.

Bob Kerrey: Wrong Before Going Into Iraq And Still Wrong Today

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/05/22/bob-kerrey-wrong-iraq/

Edit spelling sorry John Kerry.

[frazzled]

3. Neither one will move the party to a more progressive stance

They're pretty "moderate" (to put it nicely). Both could win ... but there's the rub. There was a lot of netroots enthusiasm for moderate to conservative candidates like Tester, Webb et al. It was great that they gave us wins in Montana and Virginia and, more important, a majority ... but not surprising that they disappointed with votes like the recent one on Iraq funding.

That's the reality kids. You can have progressive candidates in states like New Hampshire and Nebraska, but they will never win. Or you can get Shaheen and Kerrey and they can win. And then you will yell about how awful the Democrats are.

My view is that numbers still count, and that change will be gradual, maybe even glacial. But you have a choice: elect more Democrats to expand the majority to a veto-proof 60 votes, or lose these states, and possibly the majority in Congress, to the Republicans. But you're not going to get the second-coming or even your wish list in the current political climate, even with a narrow Democratic majority won through the addition of moderate new members.

We are coming out of a long period of conservatism in this country: the movement to a progressive Democratic majority is not going to be instantaneous when moderate-to-conservative representatives and senators from moderate-to-conservative districts and states are added to the mix. Once under the mentorship of the party, they can be relied on for certain votes, but not all. But they can be slowly brought along, together with the country, and slowly we can see some improvements.

But let's not elect people and then yell about how the Democrats are failures. This is what they have to work with: narrow majorities built of newly elected people from rather conservative places. It's going to take more than one Tuesday to create solid change.

[OHdem10]

5. These are candidates who have a good chance at winning

an election.

Kerry is no Tester or Webb. Fiscal Conservative--watch him
on SS. Have observed him in Senate. Tester and Webb--Prarie
Populists--concerned with Social Justice.

Jeanne Shaheen--do not know. I have watched her during
Campaigns .

[Stop Cornyn]

4. I thought Omaha Mayor Mike Fahey was running in Nebraska? Also, we ought not criticize Bob Kerrey as

a "Lieberman" because half of Lieberman's suckiness was the fact that he from Connecticut which is so blue that the voters there ought to have gotten behind a better Democrat instead of a half-ass. But Nebraska is not going to elect a great Barbara Boxer.

If Nebraska will send Mike Fahey or Bob Kerrey to the Senate, we ought to get behind the effort instead of bitching that Kerrey isn't the next Bernie Sanders.

[OHdem10]

7. I do not think anyone is being critical

I see it as helpful to know who people are. Sure, Nebbraska
is some conservative territory but the people they send
to Congress have been thoughtful smart people for the most
part. Karey is that. I would have no trouble supporting
him. Nor would I have a problem with Shaheen. She seems
rather pragmatic. I will still keep my eye on Karey and SS.

Hagel is a Nebraskan. Fiscal Conservative to the core.
Must say I have observed him loosen up that "tight fist"
some. Republican that I like.

[BeyondGeography]

6. Shaheen is about as agile as a statue

Sununu pummelled her pretty good in head-to-head debates last time, and she was so ineffective an advocate for Kerry that he pulled her off the screen early on in 2004. I wouldn't label her a shoo-in in any race with a credible opponent. Sununu's problem is that he has defined himself as a cave-man (against the minimum wage increase, stem cell research, unabashed supporter of "Terri's Law") that even Jeanne should be able to stomp him.