Democrats Might Lose Obama’s Old Senate Seat

Wouldn’t this be a kick in the pants? It looks like it is possible that a Republican could win the Senate seat that was held by Barack Obama. There is some infighting in Illinois among politicians who wanted the seat (part of the Blago deal making) but did not get it. The seat went to Roland Burris and he is not running for reelection.

Democratic Party leaders in Washington — and the Obama White House — failed to recruit a candidate strong enough to scare Rep. Mark Kirk — the Republicans’ best bet — from the race. The only luck they had was the decision by Sen. Roland Burris — appointed by now-indicted former Gov. Rod Blagojevich to fill Obama’s remaining term — not to run to keep the seat. Chicago Sun Times

It looks like Mark Kirk has plenty of money and will make a contest of the whole thing.

Wouldn’t it be interesting if the seat held by Obama turned parties and that took the filibuster proof majority away from Harry Reid (who will likely be gone as well) and the Democrats?

Big Dog

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17 Responses to “Democrats Might Lose Obama’s Old Senate Seat”

  1. Barbara says:

    Yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! So be it.

  2. David says:

    What a delicious appetiser for Nov 2010!

  3. Randy says:

    Don’t get too excited folks. Alexi Giannoulias is popular here. Mark Kirk will win the Republican primary for sure, Giannoulias will most likely be the Democrat primary winner. Until you get really far downstate, Illinois tends to be moderate where Republicans are concerned, and boy did those moderate Republicans howl when they found out Kirk was seeking the support of Sarah Palin. It’ll be a good race, one in which I get to vote.

    • Mike Radigan says:

      Giannoulias may be popular, but there are many questions regarding him and ties to the mafia. Just google his name and mafia. Here’s one such hit.

      http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/2219378/posts

    • Randy says:

      Despite Giannoulias being cleared of any illegal or immoral involvement in any of the issues mentioned in that blog post, I am sure it will all be rehashed in the campaign. Regardless, Giannoulias has beaten a popular Republican in a statewide election before, Kirk hasn’t. This is a big problem for Kirk. He has won by fairly narrow, and downright narrow margins in the 10th Congressional district. He does have plenty of campaign money and donors, but the money is coming from very wealthy moderate Republicans and moderate Democrats. His district includes Highland Park and Lake Forest, as well as the headquarters for several fortune 500 companies. The tightrope Kirk is walking is one where he is trying to appeal to folks downstate who may sit much further to the right and not lose the support of the Republican moderates (the ones that are pro choice and support cap and trade, as Kirk does) that provide the monetary support for his campaign. The “downstate conservatives” if you will, simply don’t have the resources and money that the moderates of Kirk’s congressional district have. Either some conservatives are going to have to swallow their pride and vote for a pro choice, pro cap and trade candidate, or Kirk is going to have to hope folks don’t mind his flip flopping and taking a far right stance on issues he has previously taken a moderate or liberal stance.

      • Big Dog says:

        I don’t necessarily think he would be good for the party but considering the state he is from he might be a neo con compared to a lot of the voters. The only irony I see is that they worked hard to save the seat for a Democrat and now they might lose it.

        They went through a lot of mess and might not hang on.

        • Randy says:

          It’s a state I have called home for well over a decade now. Not many people here will lose any sleep if Kirk wins. Heck, I may even vote for him when it’s all said and done with. His rhetoric sucks, but I don’t disagree too much with his policies. It’s also worth noting that his congressional district could just as easily end up in the hands of a Democrat. I like Giannoulias though. We’ll see how it all plays out.

  4. Katie Smith says:

    I like it, I mean I really like it, excellent post. I will be following.

  5. Adam says:

    Blagojevich, what a fine, fine guy.

    • Randy says:

      Adam,

      Clearly you enjoy following elections. I think this one is going to be an interesting one to watch. I think Mark Kirk really is representative of many of the problems of the Republican party lately. He is a pro-choice Republican congressman that voted for the cap and trade bill in the house, and is now actively seeking the support of folks much further to the right. His constituents in his Congressional district are not happy about that at all. Actually looking at his voting record, I don’t think it would be a disaster for either side if he got elected. I don’t think he will though, unless he plays more toward moderate Republicans and independent voters.

    • Adam says:

      The Democrats don’t really have a filibuster proof majority anyway as Big Dog suggests anyway. I’m still not buying into the GOP’s optimism though. Nothing so far really points to what they think is going to happen in 2010, certainly not this long before primaries.

    • Adam says:

      I don’t think anybody will pretend the Democrats will keep every seat and gain even more but there are going to be seats switching hands all over the place. I think the GOP should reserve it’s optimism until it’s grounded more in reality.

      • Randy says:

        Yep, plenty can happen in a years time.

      • Adam says:

        If things continue to head in the optimistic direction it will be very hard for the GOP to argue for the kind of change they are looking for. Yet, if the Democrats are perceived to have failed to create jobs by Nov 2010 then it could get tough. Folks don’t care about deficits or fears of socialism and specters of raised taxes as the GOP is campaigning on right now. Folks just want to work and support their families.

        But who knows? I’ve heard NY-23 has become too close to call with more official counting. It would be a somewhat hilarious yet devastating blow to Dems for the state to certify Hoffman after Owens has already been sworn into the Senate and cast votes.

        • Big Dog says:

          Especially since he was sworn into the House…

        • Blake says:

          Good catch, BD- for a political watcher, Adam really should know where Owens has gone- if, however, he was knocked out of the House by Hoffman, I think his votes would automatically go in the “not present” column- you know, like all of Barry’s Senate votes, and State votes, and every other position he has taken.
          The man is an actual waffle- he should be on a plate at IHOP.

        • Adam says:

          Senate, House? Sorry Blake, I didn’t know we’d resorted to this level of nitpicking. Next you’ll be calling out my poor use of commas and any spelling mistakes I’ve made. Oh, you showed me!