Senate 2006
The picture gets worse and worse for Republicans as Democrats continue to broaden their playing field and Republicans fail to recruit top-notch candidates.
Arizona: Former state Democratic Party Chairman Jim Pederson will enter this race and put a very large sum into his own campaign right off the bat—perhaps as much as $5 million. Incumbent Sen. Jon Kyl (R.) remains the overwhelming favorite, but Pederson at least has an opportunity to establish himself for a future run.
Perhaps the most important repercussion of a Pederson candidacy, aside from keeping Republicans busy on defense, is that his millions will not be available to bankroll the Democratic Party this cycle. Pederson has almost been its sole breadwinner for two election cycles now.
Nebraska: Peter Ricketts (R.), the conservative son of the founder of the Ameritrade stock-trading website, has joined the race against moderate Sen. Ben Nelson (D.). This creates a three-way GOP primary among Ricketts, former state GOP Chairman Dave Kramer and 2000 loser Don Stenberg. Ricketts has pledged only $500,000 to his own campaign, but his entry into the race could trigger the so-called “millionaires’ amendment,” allowing other candidates to raise higher dollar amounts.
Ricketts, who is worth $25 million, has yet to show himself as a politician, but if he has any talent he could quickly rise to the top and become the Republicans’ best hope. The rest of the GOP field is beginning from a weak spot. Nelson remains popular and the strongest Republican candidate, former Gov. Mike Johanns, left the state to serve as Bush’s secretary of Agriculture.
Pennsylvania: Sen. Rick Santorum (R.), already ripe for defeat, has stirred still more fears in Washington Republican circles that his campaign is inept. Santorum faces state Treasurer Bob Casey (D.) in the political fight of his life.
Grievances by Pennsylvania Republicans are piling up. One banking industry CEO in Pennsylvania offered Santorum a chance to visit his more than 3,000 employees. But the senator’s campaign staff would not accept the invitation immediately, explaining that this group was not a “priority.”
Santorum is also under fire for some negative fallout from his new book (It Takes a Family) in addition to grumbling over his taking money from a Pennsylvania school district to homeschool his children while living in Virginia and serving in the Senate. Add to this the anger among conservatives over last year’s Toomey-Specter primary, and Santorum is in big trouble. A recent Republican poll shows Casey 9 percentage points ahead of Santorum.
Rhode Island: Cranston Mayor Stephen Laffey (R.), after months of delay, will finally announce his Senate candidacy in mid-September. He has already hired a campaign manager.
This is already causing a huge rumble among Republicans in the state, because Laffey represents a real threat to the liberal Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R.) in a primary. The Republican National Committee has offered “party-building” money to the state party on the condition that all of its committeemen sign a letter opposing a primary, but Laffey has enough supporters—including GOP Committeeman Robert Manning—that this will not happen.
The polls are surprisingly favorable for Chafee, who could possibly eke out a victory in the general election due to the weakness of the Democratic candidates—Secretary of State Matt Brown and former Atty. Gen. Sheldon Whitehouse. But Laffey is more of a question mark. Opposition researchers are reportedly poring over his divorce records, hoping to find something to use against him in what promises to be a particularly nasty primary next September.
