Castle is IN!!!

[Rowan]

Great news:

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/10/06/castle_will_run_for_senate.html

[Meeker]

Sigh... it's going to be a tough cycle.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

Excellent!  I'm looking forward to a fantastic race.

Beau Biden hasn't officially declared yet, has he?

[Rowan]

Beau Biden hasn't officially declared yet, has he?

Nope. Any chance this might scare him away?

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Remember, Joe would do anything to get Beau elected

And I'm dare to say that Joe is much more powerful in Delaware than Castle

Anyway, race will be interesting

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

I'm dare to say that Joe is much more powerful in Delaware than Castle

But notably, Castle is much more powerful in Delaware than Babybiden.

[nkpatel1279]

For more than 30 years. DE has been represented by Bill Roth-R,Joe Biden-D,Mike Castle-R and Tom Carper-D.
Roth-R served as AT Large US Represenatative 1966-1970, US Senator- 1970-2000-until he lost re-election to Tom Carper-D.
Biden-D served as US Senator from 1972-2008 until he became Vice President.
Carper-D seved as At Large US Representative 1982-1992,Governor-1992-2000,-US Senator since 2000.
Castle-R served as Governor of DE- 1984-1992. He switched positions with Carper-D He got elected to At large US House Seat in 1992- served their ever since.
This race will be similar to the Roth-Carper race in 2000. Both candidates are popular statewide elected officials but Biden wins due to Castle's age and poor health. Biden Jr's margin of victory will be similar to Carper's margin of victory in 2000 over Bill Roth.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Basically he vacated a safe senate seat like Kirk to run for a not  a sure thing Senate run, sounds really risky to me. Golden pickups for the Dems in both House races.

[nkpatel1279]

Mike Castle's advantage is high name recognition and statewide electoral experience. Castle has been elected to Statewide office in DE 12 times. 1 times as Lt governor 1980, 2 times as Governor-1984/1988. After being term limited in 1992- He ran for the At large US House Seat. which is basically a third US Senate Seat in DE. no available US Senate Seat in the 1990's since Roth and Biden were extremely popular. In 2000- Carper-D who was finishing his second term as Governor decided to run for US Senate against Roth-who was in aging health. Carper defeated Roth by a 55-45 percent margin. Castle served in the US House ever since. This is the first time in 10 years a US Senate Race in DE has been competitive.
Regarding Seniority. (Lincoln-AR,Bennett-CO,Kaufman-DE,LeMieux-FL,Burris-IL,Brownback-KS,Bunning-KY,Bond-MO,Gregg-NH,and Voinovich-OH are likely to leave office January 2011.
The 2010 DE US Senate Race is a special election which means who ever wins will be sworn in as soon as the results are certified. Beau Biden or Mike Castle will be number 91 in seniority. Beau Biden will have greater time to build up his seniority than Castle who will serve no more than 10 years in the US Senate.

[nkpatel1279]

The 2010 US Senate Races is similar to the 1998 US Senate Races.
In 1998- the NRSC recruited Republican US House Members in Democratic leaning swing districts such as John Ensign-NV,Linda Smith-WA,and Mark Neuman-WI to run for US Senate challenging Democratic incumbents Reid-NV,Murray-WA,and Feingold-WI. Murray-WA won by a landslide margin. Reid-NV and Feingold-WI won by a tiny margin. Both won re-election in 2004 by a double digit margin. Feingold-WI will win by a comfortable margin in  2010. Reid will face a tough race. Ensign-NV and Smith-WA old US House seats went Democratic. Ensign-NV,Smith-WA and Neuman-WI were part of the 1994 GOP class and were likely to lose in 1998.
Castle-DE was facing a tough challenge in US House against former Lt Governor John Carney. or US Senate against Beau Biden. Castle decided to run for the US Senate this year because this is last time he ever gets a chance of running for the US Senate- US Senate races in DE are rarely competitive. Regarding Kirk-IL- He would have survived in 2010 but in 2012- when Obama is on the ballot or redistricting- Kirk would have lost.

[nkpatel1279]

Castle is also facing a primary challenge against the Religous Right wing nut job Christine O'Donnell.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

For more than 30 years. DE has been represented by Bill Roth-R,Joe Biden-D,Mike Castle-R and Tom Carper-D.

Longtime career and name recongition is Castle advantage, but

1. His old and Delaware would not benefit from his Senate seniority. And THIS can be a issue there
2. He's a Republican, while Delaware became increasingly Democratic. He's still in House only because he's in DE politics from a long time, but it's not like running for other office
3. Beau also have a famous name

(Lincoln-AR,Bennett-CO,Kaufman-DE,LeMieux-FL,Burris-IL,Brownback-KS,Bunning-KY,Bond-MO,Gregg-NH,and Voinovich-OH are likely to leave office January 2011.

Likely? Burriss, LeMieux, Kaufman (about whose seat we are actually talking about), Brownback, Bond, Bunning, Voinovich and Gregg are not likely to leave. They're retiring.

But I think Lincoln would be reelected.

[DownWithTheLeft]

Just saw this on FoxNews, I am estatic

[BM]

Castle is also facing a primary challenge against the Religous Right wing nut job Christine O'Donnell.

Are you suggesting that'll be a difficult task for him? lol

[Lief 🗽]

well, that sucks. And Delaware voters will probably be stupid enough to vote for him, thinking he's a "moderate", despite the fact that he'll vote to make far-right Republicans heads of the various Senate committees.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

well, that sucks. And Delaware voters will probably be stupid enough to vote for him, thinking he's a "moderate", despite the fact that he'll vote to make far-right Republicans heads of the various Senate committees.

So by this logic there hasn't been a "moderate" of either party in the Senate for decades.

[Lunar]

I didn't think Castle was gonna give the finger to his old family friend Joe Biden like this when Castle is already so old and missed like eight of his own deadlines for announcing his candidacy.

Surprising.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Beau Biden hasn't officially declared yet, has he?

Nope. Any chance this might scare him away?

No way.

[BM]

I wouldn't be surprised if Beau didn't jump in though. It'll only be a 4 year term and Castle probably won't run again.

[Lief 🗽]

well, that sucks. And Delaware voters will probably be stupid enough to vote for him, thinking he's a "moderate", despite the fact that he'll vote to make far-right Republicans heads of the various Senate committees.

So by this logic there hasn't been a "moderate" of either party in the Senate for decades.

They can be moderate, it's just that their moderation doesn't do very much when, for example, they vote for Jim Inhofe to chair the Environment and Public Works Committee or Jeff Sessions to chair the Judiciary Committee or Mitch McConnell to decide which bills and amendments are voted on. I don't deny that Castle might vote with Democrats on a couple of bills (though I doubt he'd support cap and trade or robust health care reform), but just because he's a moderate doesn't mean that he's not making some very, very conservative elements, elements that the voters in Delaware do not want running the country, more powerful.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

They can be moderate, it's just that their moderation doesn't do very much when, for example, they vote for Jim Inhofe to chair the Environment and Public Works Committee or Jeff Sessions to chair the Judiciary Committee or Mitch McConnell to decide which bills and amendments are voted on. I don't deny that Castle might vote with Democrats on a couple of bills (though I doubt he'd support cap and trade or robust health care reform), but just because he's a moderate doesn't mean that he's not making some very, very conservative elements, elements that the voters in Delaware do not want running the country, more powerful.

The difference between McConnell getting 42 organizational votes and 41 organizational votes is pretty much negligible. Does anyone seriously think Castle will be around in the Senate long enough to see Republicans retake the body?

[Lunar]

Beau Biden hasn't officially declared yet, has he?

Nope. Any chance this might scare him away?

No way.

I wouldn't be too sure of that, but I've already batted 0 for 1 with DE politics.

[Lief 🗽]

The difference between McConnell getting 42 organizational votes and 41 organizational votes is pretty much negligible. Does anyone seriously think Castle will be around in the Senate long enough to see Republicans retake the body?

If the Republicans have a good year they could get up to 44 or 45 seats, and 2012 looks potentially even worse for the Democrats.

[nkpatel1279]

Castle has never faced a tough Statewide election in his political career.
He was first elected Lt Governor in 1980-along with Governor Pete DuPont-R who was running for re-election defeating a local State Senator by a 59-40 percent margin. He was elected Governor in 1984 by a 55-45 percent margin defeating a former Delaware Supreme Court Judge. re-elected in 1988 by a 71-29 percent margin against a sacrificial lamb challenger. After being term limited as Governor- Castle-R decided to run for the At Large US House Seat-Tom Carper-D was vacating to run for Governor in 1992. Castle was elected to the US House defeating SB Woo a former LT Governor by a 55-43 percent margin. During Castle's 1994,1996,1998,2000,2002,2004,2006,and 2008 re-election campaigns- Castle's Democratic challengers were sacrificial lamb challengers who have not recieved between 25-40 percent of the popular vote.
Beau Biden-D is a more formidable opponent than SB Woo was. and DE is more Democratic than it was in 1992.

[ajc0918]

IM SO EXCITED NOW. lol.


he already has a developed website: http://www.castleforsenate.com/