in light of Lugar's defeat

[freepcrusher]

how would someone like Cliff Case, Ed Brooke or Jacob Javits fit in the republican party now? Even the guy who defeated Javits from the right (Al D'Amato) might not fit in. Obviously I am biased being a dem (and could probably say the same thing about Bentsen, Boren, Breaux etc), but with guys like the ones above gone, who is going to be the "traffic cop" so to speak?

[nkpatel1279]

Republican US Senators up for re-election in 2014.
1)Sessions(AL)
2)Chambliss(GA)
3)Risch(ID)
4)Roberts(KS)
5)McConnell(KY)
6)Collins(ME)
7)Cochran(MS)
8)Johanns(NE)
9)Inhofe(OK)
10)Graham(SC)
11)Alexander(TN)
12)Cornyn(TX)
13)Enzi(WY)
Sessions(AL),Risch(ID),McConnell(KY),Inhofe(OK),Cornyn(TX),and Enzi(WY) are rightwing nutcases.
Chambliss(GA),Roberts(KS),Cochran(MS),Johanns(NE),Graham(SC),and Alexander(TN) are right of center. Chambliss(GA),Johanns(NE),and Graham(SC) are likely to move further to the right.
Roberts(KS),Cochran(MS),and Alexander(TN) are a big question mark.
Collins(ME) and Alexander(TN) are the 2 Republican US Senators up for re-election in 2014 that are likely to get teabagged.

[freepcrusher]

Collins(ME) and Alexander(TN) are the 2 Republican US Senators up for re-election in 2014 that are likely to get teabagged.

Maine doesn't have a lot of ultraconservatives I don't think and in TN; I doubt Alexander doesn't get teabagged if Corker didn't. Alexander is also a "Tennessee institution".

[Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Lugar was an Indiana institution as was Castle in Delaware.


What it comes down to is how aggressive a campaign one runs. McCain and likely Hatch will survive challanges because they were more on the ball and had weak challenges. Castle had sh**tty challenger and lost, but he surely could have pulled off what McCain did. Instead he did the same think Lazio did NY in 2010, which is to say nothing. The result of that is crystal clear and Lugar certainly should have done better campaign wise, especially after Alaska and Delaware in 2010.

Collins will probably be fine.

[Ѕenator Αverroës]

Not to suggest that you indicate otherwise, NCYankee, but Lugar is an order of magnitude more conservative more conservative than Castle, and Mourdock is an order of magnitude less "out there" than O'Donnell.

[Progressive Realist]

Ronald Reagan wouldn't fit in the GOP today.

[Big DaddyTX]

Ronald Reagan wouldn't fit in the GOP today.

I think a lot of the Republican greats would be upset with the current state of the GOP.

[Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Not to suggest that you indicate otherwise, NCYankee, but Lugar is an order of magnitude more conservative more conservative than Castle, and Mourdock is an order of magnitude less "out there" than O'Donnell.

And that is why Mourdock will probably be Indiana's next US Senator and not Donnelly. But I still think Lugar could have ran a better campaign and thus gotten better than 40% or whatever the final number was for him.

[Is JCL in mushy sappy love]

Ronald Reagan wouldn't fit in the GOP today.

He'd be with the tea party. McConnell of KY is the big establishment  moderate we plan on Tea Partying out along with the remaining sister of Maine

[Progressive Realist]

Ronald Reagan wouldn't fit in the GOP today.

He'd be with the tea party. McConnell of KY is the big establishment  moderate we plan on Tea Partying out along with the remaining sister of Maine

McConnell a "moderate"?? LOL

[Bacon King]

Ronald Reagan wouldn't fit in the GOP today.

He'd be with the tea party.

Ronald Reagan, the California governor who passed the nation's most liberal abortion law six years before Roe v. Wade, doubled his state's budget, and passed the biggest tax increase in CA history? The former President that tripled the deficit, raised taxes eleven times, dramatically increased the size of government, and gave amnesty to three million undocumented immigrants? I'm sure the Tea Party would have loved him.

McConnell of KY is the big establishment  moderate we plan on Tea Partying out along with the remaining sister of Maine

Please do. Two new potentially Democratic Senate seats brought about by the Tea Party would be hilarious, as would be the chaos of partisan activists actively undermining their own party's Senate floor leader.

[Holmes]

McConnell of KY is the big establishment  moderate we plan on Tea Partying out along with the remaining sister of Maine

Please do. Two new potentially Democratic Senate seats brought about by the Tea Party would be hilarious

One.

[Bacon King]

McConnell of KY is the big establishment  moderate we plan on Tea Partying out along with the remaining sister of Maine

Please do. Two new potentially Democratic Senate seats brought about by the Tea Party would be hilarious

One.

The Democrats actually have a pretty strong bench in Kentucky.

[Proud Lieberal from Northeast]

Ronald Reagan wouldn't fit in the GOP today.

He'd be with the tea party. McConnell of KY is the big establishment 

Yeah, Reagan was so anti-establishment

moderate we plan on Tea Partying out along with the remaining sister of Maine

Idiotic statement of the day.

[Is JCL in mushy sappy love]

Ronald Reagan wouldn't fit in the GOP today.

He'd be with the tea party.

Ronald Reagan, the California governor who passed the nation's most liberal abortion law six years before Roe v. Wade, doubled his state's budget, and passed the biggest tax increase in CA history? The former President that tripled the deficit, raised taxes eleven times, dramatically increased the size of government, and gave amnesty to three million undocumented immigrants? I'm sure the Tea Party would have loved him.

He repented of signing that liberal abortion law shortly after. Also remember the GOP was more monetarist back then.

McConnell of KY is the big establishment  moderate we plan on Tea Partying out along with the remaining sister of Maine

Please do. Two new potentially Democratic Senate seats brought about by the Tea Party would be hilarious, as would be the chaos of partisan activists actively undermining their own party's Senate floor leader.

Obama's gay marriage endorsement will hurt him in KY

Remember McConnel is the minority leader and is seen as a moderate by the tea party.

[Jayhawker]

Ronald Reagan wouldn't fit in the GOP today.

He'd be with the tea party.

Ronald Reagan, the California governor who passed the nation's most liberal abortion law six years before Roe v. Wade, doubled his state's budget, and passed the biggest tax increase in CA history? The former President that tripled the deficit, raised taxes eleven times, dramatically increased the size of government, and gave amnesty to three million undocumented immigrants? I'm sure the Tea Party would have loved him.

He repented of signing that liberal abortion law shortly after. Also remember the GOP was more monetarist back then.

McConnell of KY is the big establishment  moderate we plan on Tea Partying out along with the remaining sister of Maine

Please do. Two new potentially Democratic Senate seats brought about by the Tea Party would be hilarious, as would be the chaos of partisan activists actively undermining their own party's Senate floor leader.

Obama's gay marriage endorsement will hurt him in KY

Remember McConnel is the minority leader and is seen as a moderate by the tea party.

Presidential races and Senatorial races often differ, especially in Southern states - there's a high percentage of Democrats that never vote Democratic on the Presidential level, but will almost always vote Democratic at every other level. Just look how West Virginia will likely vote this fall.

[Holmes]

McConnell of KY is the big establishment  moderate we plan on Tea Partying out along with the remaining sister of Maine

Please do. Two new potentially Democratic Senate seats brought about by the Tea Party would be hilarious

One.

The Democrats actually have a pretty strong bench in Kentucky.

Like Jack Conway.

[hopper]

McConnell of KY is the big establishment  moderate we plan on Tea Partying out along with the remaining sister of Maine

Please do. Two new potentially Democratic Senate seats brought about by the Tea Party would be hilarious

One.

The Democrats actually have a pretty strong bench in Kentucky.

Like Jack Conway.

Yeah but he lost to Rand Paul though in 2010.

[Proud Lieberal from Northeast]

McConnell of KY is the big establishment  moderate we plan on Tea Partying out along with the remaining sister of Maine

Please do. Two new potentially Democratic Senate seats brought about by the Tea Party would be hilarious

One.

The Democrats actually have a pretty strong bench in Kentucky.

Like Jack Conway.

Yeah but he lost to Rand Paul though in 2010.

In the year of 2010. Under more neutral circumstances nationally, Conway would beat Rand back then.

[hopper]

Ronald Reagan wouldn't fit in the GOP today.

He'd be with the tea party. McConnell of KY is the big establishment  moderate we plan on Tea Partying out along with the remaining sister of Maine

McConnell moderate? How so? He is a mid range conservative at best. Just hand the Maine Seat over to a liberal dem. Collins has to vote like she does. She is in a Northeast State after all. The GOP thinks they can run Jim Demint Conservatives in every state. You just can't do that.

[Bacon King]

McConnell of KY is the big establishment  moderate we plan on Tea Partying out along with the remaining sister of Maine

Please do. Two new potentially Democratic Senate seats brought about by the Tea Party would be hilarious

One.

The Democrats actually have a pretty strong bench in Kentucky.

Like Jack Conway.

Yeah but he lost to Rand Paul though in 2010.

In the year of 2010. Under more neutral circumstances nationally, Conway would beat Rand back then.

And let's not forget that a complete nobody running a horribly underfunded campaign still managed 47% against McConnell in 2008, even when Obama only pulled 41% in Kentucky.

[Pacific Justice IBDD]

what about the Democratic Gov of Kentucky he could run for the senate in 2016 he won relection in 2011 with 55% to 35%

[hopper]

what about the Democratic Gov of Kentucky he could run for the senate in 2016 he won relection in 2011 with 55% to 35%

Beshear actually ran against McConnell in 1990 and lost I think.

[Pacific Justice IBDD]

That was 1996, before he was Governor and hes proves to be very popular and if Mitch McConnell runs again Beshear might not run but he has a better chance against rand paul

[Stranger in a strange land]

McConnell has never been particularly popular, and he's had several close calls over the years. If his opponent had had more money in 2008, he would have been in real danger of losing. He's definitely vulnerable in a bad Republican year, and he's also vulnerable to being teabagged, though the people actually running and funding the Tea Party movement know this would be counterproductive. However, they've seen the movement slip out from under their control somewhat, so you never know what could happen.