2009/2010: Ridge to decide soon...

Posted: Tuesday, May 05, 2009 9:09 AM by Mark Murray
Filed Under: 2009, 2010

FLORIDA: Former Republican State House Speaker Marco Rubio may officially announce he’s getting into the Senate race this week.

NEW YORK: “In the end, Caroline Kennedy's teenage children convinced her to get out of the running for the U.S. Senate, a new exposé on America's most storied political family reveals. ‘Mom, you are above this,’ older daughter Rose Kennedy Schlossberg, 19, reportedly told her mom last Jan. 21 - hours before Kennedy called Gov. Paterson to end her bid for Hillary Clinton's old Senate seat. The report in Vanity Fair magazine details for the first time what became a pivotal family meeting during which all three of Kennedy's children expressed worry over her sudden detour into electoral politics.”

PENNSYLVANIA: The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza reports that Tom Ridge (R) will decide in the next two weeks if he’ll run for Senate next year. “If he ran, he would almost certainly face primary opposition from former congressman Pat Toomey, a conservative who came within two points of knocking off Specter in the 2004 Republican primary. Toomey has made it clear that he is in the race regardless of whether Ridge, who is considered to be a moderate, runs. Polling suggests that Ridge would be more competitive than Toomey against Specter.”

SOUTH DAKOTA: “If Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D) runs for governor in 2010, her South Dakota at-large seat would become a prime pickup opportunity for House Republicans next year… In a recent interview with Roll Call, Herseth Sandlin said she is still considering running for higher office next year. ‘I haven’t ruled anything out,’ she said. ‘But I’m not going to make a final decision until this summer on what office I’ll be seeking in 2010.’”

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Comments

It won't matter who runs in PA for the evil elephants because the democrats will trounce them. We can't let another of the bushwhacker cabal get elected.

Eric, Salinas, CA (Sent Tuesday, May 05, 2009 9:19 AM)

what I remember most about Tom Ridge is all the free vacations he took (while calling them HomeLand Security Business) when he was head of Home Land Security under Bush.

gepa (Sent Tuesday, May 05, 2009 9:24 AM)

It won't matter who runs in PA for the evil elephants because the democrats will trounce them. We can't let another of the bushwhacker cabal get elected.
Eric, Salinas, CA (Sent Tuesday, May 05, 2009 9:19 AM)
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I wouldn't be quite that certain, Eric. I think much will depend on Specter's stance on EFCA. If Ridge does become the GOP pick, and if Specter continues to be beholden to his former masters, the GOP, and stands against it, that will likely make him vunerable in the primary, and the general election if he gets that far. Plus, Sestak is looking more and more like a viable Democratic primary candidate, and I'm not certain he'll be able to beat Ridge even if he beats Specter. Of course, if the GOP picks Toomey, then all of this will become moot, as the seat will most certainly go Democratic regardless of who wins.

This is becoming a poker game with all of the players betting on what the populace wants. I think PA will be the ultimate test of whether or not the country is moving far right, right of center, left of center, or far left.

http://jawillie.blog.com

jawillie, Philadelphia, PA. (Sent Tuesday, May 05, 2009 9:37 AM)

PENNSYLVANIA: The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza reports that Tom Ridge (R) will decide in the next two weeks if he’ll run for Senate next year. “If he ran, he would almost certainly face primary opposition from former congressman Pat Toomey, a conservative who came within two points of knocking off Specter in the 2004 Republican primary. Toomey has made it clear that he is in the race regardless of whether Ridge, who is considered to be a moderate, runs. Polling suggests that Ridge would be more competitive than Toomey against Specter.”

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I suppose Toomey and the GOP will slap Ridge with the same label that drove Arlen Specter away..."RINO"...not conservative enough...too moderate.

Pete - Albany, NY (Sent Tuesday, May 05, 2009 9:37 AM)

"Polling suggests that Ridge would be more competitive than Toomey against Specter.”
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But can Ridge make it through a wingnut primary?

That's the question- and the reason Specter bailed. If the anti-choice/anti-science/anti-equality crowd makes up the majority of the GOP voting bloc in PA at this time, then Toomey may coast to a primary victory- only to get wiped out in the general. Getting all those newly registered Democrats in PA to switch back to the GOP will require that Ridge turn his back on the big bag of crazy the national party insists on dragging along with them.

Suburban Mom paying attention, IL (Sent Tuesday, May 05, 2009 9:45 AM)

Caroline has smart children.

Tom Ridge part of the Bush Administration is going to need all the luck he can get if he expects to win.

South Dakota looks like it is a tossup, still.

eagle1776 (Sent Tuesday, May 05, 2009 9:55 AM)

>>>Tom Ridge part of the Bush Administration is going to need all the luck he can get if he expects to win.
eagle1776 (Sent Tuesday, May 05, 2009 9:55 AM)
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You bring up an interesting post, especially considering the robo-calls the RNC launched against Specter tying him to BUSH. Gonna be quite hard to explain Ridge's association with GW Bu--Sh-- considering he appointed Ridge Homeland Security Chief.

http://jawillie.blog.com

jawillie, Philadelphia, PA. (Sent Tuesday, May 05, 2009 10:17 AM)

I wonder if Caroline Kennedy's children would mind if she were on the Supreme Court. Think about it folks, she is a lawyer, she is not a politician, she is a woman. Except for not being a minority, she is everything his ideal nominee would be, no?

GOP are you frothing about that possibility?

Caroline for SCOTUS!!! (Sent Tuesday, May 05, 2009 11:37 AM)

Ridge, despite being well liked, will lose to Toomey because he will be able to get the vote out. I don't know how many people Ridge will be able to get out for the Republican primary.

S.B. Stein E.B. NJ (Sent Tuesday, May 05, 2009 12:24 PM)

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