Breaking: Tom Harkin to retire

[RogueBeaver]

Per an interview with the AP. So Braley will have to choose between taking on the Branstad juggernaut or going for an open seat.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/ap-newsbreak-iowa-democrat-tom-harkin-says-he-will-not-seek-6th-senate-term/2013/01/26/2aab80c4-67cb-11e2-83c7-38d5fac94235_story.html

[Keystone Phil]

Rejoice! Rejoice, I say!

[tmthforu94]

Ideally, I'd rather Branstead go for this and give up the Governor's seat.

[Thomas D]

Ideally, I'd rather Branstead go for this and give up the Governor's seat.

You're just worried about some untested GOPer saying something stupid about rape 3 weeks before the election.

[Keystone Phil]

Ideally, I'd rather Branstead go for this and give up the Governor's seat.

You're just worried about some untested GOPer saying something stupid about rape 3 weeks before the election.

Don't be bitter.

[RogueBeaver]

Here's hoping for Tom Latham or Kim Reynolds. Definitely NOT Steve King.

[Thomas D]

Ideally, I'd rather Branstead go for this and give up the Governor's seat.

You're just worried about some untested GOPer saying something stupid about rape 3 weeks before the election.

Don't be bitter.

I didn't pull that out of nowhere. It cost you 2 seats that should have been in the bag last year.

[Lief 🗽]

Democrats will obviously hold this. We all know the script.

[Mad Deadly Worldwide Communist Gangster Computer God]

Democrats will obviously hold this. We all know the script.

If Branstad runs, it'll be a tough race.

[Landslide Lyndon]

King and Latham enter the Republican primary, King wins and gets creamed in the general by Braley, and Democrats win both their House seats.
Great news indeed!

[Brittain33]

Democrats will obviously hold this. We all know the script.

Yeah, I feel pretty good about this. Harkin would have been safe D but he's been there long enough to retire...

[Keystone Phil]

Ideally, I'd rather Branstead go for this and give up the Governor's seat.

You're just worried about some untested GOPer saying something stupid about rape 3 weeks before the election.

Don't be bitter.

I didn't pull that out of nowhere. It cost you 2 seats that should have been in the bag last year.

Yeah, I know to what you're referring. That wasn't the point.

[bore]

Will this make Harkin the longest serving senator never to have been the senior senator?

[Torie]

Latham's trouncing of Boswell in a toss up seat in a kind of down year for the Pubs in Iowa was most impressive. He must have political talent. He ran way ahead of the Pub baseline.

[Torie]

King and Latham enter the Republican primary, King wins and gets creamed in the general by Braley, and Democrats win both their House seats.
Great news indeed!

The Dems will capture the King seat in an off year election?  LOL.  Some might even characterize that as a hackish statement.

[Keystone Phil]

Someone might characterize a statement made by px as hackish? No! Stop!

[Brittain33]

Latham's trouncing of Boswell in a toss up seat in a kind of down year for the Pubs in Iowa was most impressive. He must have political talent. He ran way ahead of the Pub baseline.

Latham as a senate candidate is a scary prospect. He's always over performed. It didn't hurt him that Boswell always underperformed, though.

[RogueBeaver]

The problem is if there's a nuclear primary between Latham and King. Branstad preemptively endorsed Latham while praising King back in November, but dunno what else can be done.

http://www.nationaljournal.com/blogs/hotlineoncall/2012/11/terry-branstad-sounds-off-on-iowa-senate-seat-15

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Steve King will probably save the day, from what I've read he was seriously considering running even before Harkin's announcement.

[pbrower2a]

King and Latham enter the Republican primary, King wins and gets creamed in the general by Braley, and Democrats win both their House seats.
Great news indeed!

The Dems will capture the King seat in an off year election?  LOL.  Some might even characterize that as a hackish statement.

Democrats can make big gains in an off-year election -- as shown in 2006. That year the GOP brand was badly tarnished. If the political climate changes, seemingly-strange things can happen. But that usually happens at the margins with extremists in not-so-extreme seats. Steve King has held a not-so-marginal R seat for a very long time.  He might stick around even if the Democrats pick up lots of R+4 and R+5 seats in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin with moderately-liberal candidates running against Tea Party types.

Steve King could win a Senate seat if the political climate of 2010 returns in 2014.

[Bacon King]

Will this make Harkin the longest serving senator never to have been the senior senator?

I believe so, but he won't have been the most senior junior senator ever- Fritz Hollings was South Carolina's junior senator for 36 years before Strom Thurmond died.

[RogueBeaver]

Latham responded with a statement that he respects Harkin's decision and looks forward to working with him and the IA delegation over the next 2 years. No hint of a run, at least not yet.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Is there even a Democratic bench in Iowa?

[Zioneer]

I feel optimistic about this seat; it sounds like the Dems have a solid base of support, a few solid candidates, and the Republicans have some Tea Party spectres looming over them, which will harm their general election chances.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Is there even a Democratic bench in Iowa?

Congressman Bruce Braley, for starters