I was hoping this might happen: Kent Conrad to retire. (Via Instapundit.) Even though the North Dakota Democrat has spent his career grandstanding on fiscal discipline, he voted for the “stimulus” and Obamacare. Methinks, with an energized Tea Party, he would have had a tough job defending those votes in a state no Democratic presidential nominee has won since 1964.
Question now is what does Jack Dalrymple do. The newly sworn-in governor of the Peace Garden State ran to succeed Conrad in the Senate in 1992 and lost to Byron Dorgan who most recently retired rather than face popular Governor John Hoeven whose election last fall to said Senate seat allowed the then-Lt. Governor (Mr. Dalrymple) to become governor.
Given how well Republicans did in 2010 in North Dakota, electing a Republican Senator and easily ousting a nine-term Democratic incumbent Congressman, expect the GOP to do as well in the state next fall as it did last November.
Senator Kent Conrad walked the plank for Obama’s Marxist America; in other words, his internal poll numbers must be the stuff of Freddy Krugar’s Nightmare on Elm Street. I have crocodile tears for Senator Conrad. Expect many more Senate Democrats to abandon ship as the 2012 elections loom like some bad dream.
Joe Lieberman is out, too. So, Connecticut will have an opportunity to install another bat-crazy liberal in the mode of Sue-‘Em-All Blumenthal.
As I blogged today, I don’t think our Democrat U.S. Senator Ben Nelson will run in 2012. Either way, you can add Nebraska to the “Republican Pickup” list in 2012.
I hope a Republican gets it. But just because Republicans did well in 2010 does not mean they are going to be as popular in 2012. Yes, Democrats have far more seats to defend, so that bodes well for us winning the senate, but Democrats might also successfully blame Republicans for something bad that happens or pin some scandal on us. Obama is monetizing the debt to buy himself a boost before crushing the country with inflation. Who knows what the mood will be that far from now.
But Conrad is retiring for one reason — Democrats think they have a better chance of keeping the seat if he does. They get Dorgan to come out of retirement, or find a fresh new face, and they have a good chance of retaining the seat — especially if Obama does well that year — and he plans to spend a billion dollars, he is moving his corrupt campaign to corrupt Chicago where his corrupt ex Chief of Staff will be heading that most corrupt political machine in the country.
They ought to be able to easily bus a couple thousand dead Indians in off the reservations to make sure they keep that seat.
Ted Cruz announces for Kay Rino Hutchison’s senate seat. Another Republican who, like Marco Rubio, Susana Martinez, and Raul Labrador… didn’t get the memo that Republicans Hate Hispanics.
When does Ben Nelson & Jim Webb decide to retire?