Raising Kaine: Chalk Up Another Democratic Senate Pickup?

[Catchawave]

http://www.raisingkaine.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=10387

Chalk Up Another Democratic Senate Pickup?
by: Lowell
Fri Sep 14, 2007 at 10:58:16 AM EDT


(First they attack Mark Warner for not being ideologically pure enough, now they attack Jeanne Shaheen. As I said yesterday, with friends like these... - promoted by Lowell)

It now looks like Democrats are going to be picking up another Senate seat next year.

Former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen will announce Friday that she will run for the U.S. Senate, a source familiar with her plans said.
The popular Democrat will step down as head of Harvard's Institute of Politics to challenge Republican Sen. John Sununu, who defeated her for the seat in 2002, the source told The Associated Press.

Go Jeanne Shaheen! Goodbye John Sununu!

P.S. Shaheen leads Sununu 57%-29% in the latest poll.



In her statement, Shaheen said she decided to run "because we have major problems facing this country, and there is an urgent need for real change in Washington."
She added, "We've proven in New Hampshire that we can work together to get things done. I want to take that common-sense approach to Washington and help get this country moving in the right direction."

Sound familiar? See Mark Warner's statement yesteday. This is going to be awesome - Mark Warner, Jim Webb and Jeanne Shaheen in the Senate just 15 months from now. Better days ahead for America...]

[madfloridian]

1. There are many other sides to that story at Open Left.

I will find them.

In reference to the remarks on the ( )....

This is from Open Left's Mike Lux, pretty moderate guy overall. I think so many who had hopes to run are once again going to be pushed out of the race. That said..she has the big name to win.

http://openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=1358

"Sometimes I wonder if this problem is a combination of the progressive movement growing too effective too quickly, and Bush policies creating national and international disasters even more rapidly than expected. It takes a long time to build a bench. We are talking at least four years to build a member of the US House, and probably more. It takes ten years to build a US Senator, and often more. To build a President, it takes at least fourteen years, and often more. In the five year period from 2002-2007, the movement simply did not have enough time to build up a series of candidates and professional activists to replace the pretenders in Congress, in the party leadership, and throughout the progressive establishment. So, we set the table, but most of the people available to sit down and eat were the same Democrats who screwed everything up so badly from 1994-2004. And so, Jean Shaheen loses in 2002 while supporting the war and the Bush tax cuts, is floated as a "stop Dean" candidate for DNC chair in late 2004, but then gets to re-enter the Senate in 2008 largely because of the work of other progressives who she largely opposed. However, many other Democrats could easily end up losing in 2008 because of a blurring strategy on Iraq that Democrats like Shaheen will facilitate.

That is his opinion, not mine. But I think he worded it well about many concerns about where our party is going.

[saltpoint]

2. Virginia and New Hampshire. Looks to me as if there's are some top-drawer

Democrats in those places these days getting it done.

And the poll numbers are very, very encouraging.

I hope Mark Warner wins unanimously and the same for Jeanne Shaheen. A Senator without John Sununu Jr is a greatly improved Senate.

Go, team.