I searched for a story about this, but I couldnt find anything. If it was already diaried, then I will delete.
Ben Smith, of The New York Daily news, interviewed Chuck Schumer about the 2008 Senate Elections. Schumer will continue in his role as DSCC chairman. Here is the link to the article.
When talking about strategy/the overall Senate picture, what really stuck out was this:
His first goal is ensuring that no Democrat retires.
"We have now gotten 11 of the 12 Democrats to commit to running again. [Iowa Sen.] Tom Harkin is still making up his mind," Schumer said, going on to lavish praise on the 67-year-old Democrat. "He's a great senator. He does more in a couple of years than many senators have done in a lifetime."
This statement is intresting to me for two reasons. One, I didnt know Harkin was thinking of retiring. He is now in the majority party in Waashington, and he is relatively young for a senator. Why does he want to retire? I cant think of a strong challenger for him on the GOP side. Does he have health issues?
Secondly, by my reading of that statement, it seems that Tim Johnson will run for re-election. Word is he is improving, but I dont know if Schumer specifically asked him or his staff about his re-election(which would seem inappropriate), or if he was told that Johnson would be running again. It seems like Johnson has more important things to deal with than his re-election at this point.
Also, it looks like Frank Lautenberg(81 years old I believe), will run for re-election in NJ. While his approvals arent terrific, neither were the approval for Menendez and he won easily. And I'm under the impression Lautenberg is well-liked, and, most importantly, clean, so he should win, even over Tom Kean Jr.
Thoughts?