A new online piece in the American Prospect details how the Forces of Evil are having trouble getting some of their best potential Senate candidates to jump into open-seat races or challenge possibly vulnerable Democrats. It's at:
http://www.prospect.org/webfeatures/2004/03/jones-m-03-16.html
Here's the graf I'm talking about:
Last week, Rep. Bob Beauprez (R-Colo.) joined a growing list of lawmakers who have rejected White House political adviser Karl Rove's attempts to persuade them to run. Rove had already been rebuffed by Gov. Mike Huckabee (Ark.), former Gov. Jim Edgar (Ill.), and Reps. Jennifer Dunn (Wash.) and Jim Gibbons (Nev.). This puts some Democratic incumbents formerly considered vulnerable, such as Blanche Lincoln (Ark.) and Harry Reid (Nev.), in strong positions to win reelection.
I can think of two reasons why this could be: one, those with higher ambitions probably feel that it's better to make a run at the presidency from a governor's office than from Capitol Hill; two, they don't want to be seen as creatures of Bush/Rove. There have to be quite a few Republicans out there who aren't in harmony with the transparent view of the Bush junta that Congressional Republicans are little more than an adjunct branch of the White House operation.
It's very possible I'm being naive here, but nothing would be better--both for Dem chances this November and for the country in a longer time frame--than a principled schism among Republicans more concerned with being true to conservative principles and their own constituents' well-being than with advancing the Cheney/DeLay/Rove/Norquist project.