Our fearless Rock the Houses leader, plf515, has already written a couple of excellent diaries on the House, specifically on House races that we should be focusing on to primary out some of our more useless Democrats. This effort has been prompted by the Capitulation Bill and the surprising astonishing appalling number of Dems who voted in favor of it.
Updates below in italics -- from the comments.
I'm going to do an overview of Senate races in 2008. I don't have the time to do the same level of analysis of each candidate that plf did of his list of House Dems, but I'll give my two cents and then throw it open for discussion. Seeing as how it's a pretty small group of Senate Dems whose seats are up for grabs in 2008, I'll go the extra mile and toss in the Senate 'Pubs as well, with my take on which of them have the best chance of being kicked to the curb by a strong Dem challenge next year. Please be aware that I'm not going to do an analysis based on anything scientific like poll numbers or an indepth examination of voting records. This is just my opinion, and should be taken, or not, as such.
I actually already did the latter a few months ago, in the context of looking at possible Senate 'Pubs who might possibly be pressured into supporting impeachment in order to save their own political hides. I mention it because it's another factor that's always worthy of consideration and discussion. Don'tcha think?
So without further ado, here are the Senators and their votes on the Capitulation Bill ("YES"=bad, "NO"=good):
Democrats
YES Baucus, Max (D-MT)
YES Biden, Joseph R., Jr. (D-DE)
YES Durbin, Richard (D-IL)
YES Harkin, Tom (D-IA)
Johnson, Tim (D-SD) - did not vote
NO Kerry, John F. (D-MA)
YES Landrieu, Mary L. (D-LA)
YES Lautenberg, Frank R. (D-NJ)
YES Levin, Carl (D-MI)
YES Pryor, Mark L. (D-AR)
YES Reed, Jack (D-RI)
YES Rockefeller, John D., IV (D-WV)
Republicans
YES Alexander, Lamar (R-TN)
YES Allard, Wayne (R-CO)
YES Chambliss, Saxby (R-GA)
YES Cochran, Thad (R-MS)
Coleman, Norm (R-MN) - did not vote
YES Collins, Susan M. (R-ME)
YES Cornyn, John (R-TX)
YES Craig, Larry E. (R-ID)
YES Dole, Elizabeth (R-NC)
YES Domenici, Pete V. (R-NM)
NO Enzi, Michael B. (R-WY)
YES Graham, Lindsey (R-SC)
YES Hagel, Chuck (R-NE)
YES Inhofe, James M. (R-OK)
YES McConnell, Mitch (R-KY)
YES Roberts, Pat (R-KS)
YES Sessions, Jeff (R-AL)
YES Smith, Gordon H. (R-OR)
YES Stevens, Ted (R-AK)
YES Sununu, John E. (R-NH)
YES Warner, John (R-VA)
First, the Democrats.
Personally, I'd like to see every last one of 'em except Kerry and Johnson kicked to the curb, but I know that that is A) Not very practical and B) Probably not even very desirable since building a real majority in the Senate is still important (for some reason), and I know that if we primaried out an incumbent Dem we'd be running the risk of losing the seat to a 'Pub. With that in mind, my personal list of Dems wot desperately need to be primaried out is:
Biden -- Sorry, but he's outlived his usefulness and it's time for him to be put out to pasture. He's too deep in the pockets of the banks and credit card companies, and he can't be trusted to even follow in the right direction, much less lead.
Landrieu -- She's just useless, and IMO she no longer qualifies for Katrina-based sympathy.
Dems that I would love to see gone, but am just not sure whether it'd be worth it in the long run (because I fear the seat might be taken by a 'Pub if they're primaried out):
Baucus
Pryor
Reed
Rockefeller
Dems that I don't think should be or will be challenged, either because they are generally decent on progressive issues or because they're so entrenched they'd survive pretty much any primary challenge:
Durbin
Harkin
Lautenberg
Levin
These are the four votes, by the way, that angered me the most, because I think the betrayal is the most egregious from these four. I assume, however, that I'm in the minority on this and that most folks will say that this vote should be overlooked in favor of their overall record in the Senate.
On to the Republicans:
My top tier are those who I think are the most vulnerable, and whose seats I think are the most likely to be picked up if a strong challenge with a viable candidate is mounted.
Collins and Sununu -- New England is getting bluer every day, and I think these two are heading for the endangered species list.
Domenici -- Between USAGate and his rumored dementia, I think he's headed for pasture anyway. Get him out.
Coleman -- I think Franken has a very good chance of beating him next year. Fingers crossed. MN is a pretty liberal state, in general.
Smith -- Honestly, I dunno how he's lasted as long as he has in Oregon. Note to Oregon Dems: You need to go after this guy, bigtime. Ugh, or maybe not -- see comments.
Second tier: I'd love to see these people gone, and think that there may be some chance of getting it done -- depending, mostly, on whether or not the right Dem can be found to challenge him or her.
Stevens -- Finding a strong Dem in Alaska would not be easy, but the guy's being investigated by the FBI, right? Maybe Alaskans will decide that the smear on their state's reputation isn't worth all the pork. Maybe. And maybe he'll decide to retire. Maybe.
Dole -- This one may be wishful thinking on my part, but I'd like to think she could be gotten rid of.
Third tier: I just don't have a clue about these, or I think that, given where they're from, they're probably pretty entrenched and not going anywhere until they decide to retire.
Alexander -- Probably entrenched.
Allard -- No clue. I've heard rumors that he is retiring, but...?? Update: hat tip to bawbie in the comments for the link to his January announcement that he is in fact retiring.
Chambliss -- No clue.
Cochran -- No clue.
Cornyn -- Probably entrenched. Or not -- see comments.
Craig -- No clue. Lotta wingnuts in Idaho, though.
Enzi -- Probably entrenched.
Graham -- Probably entrenched.
Hagel -- No effin' clue. Will he run as an independent? Do we care?
Inhofe - Probably entrenched.
McConnell -- Probably entrenched. Or not -- see comments.
Roberts -- Probably entrenched.
Sessions -- Probably entrenched.
Warner -- Definitely entrenched. Unless challenged by Mark Warner? See comments.
I will just add this -- in my humble opinion, even the deepest-dug-in of the above list of 'Pubs ought to be given the challenge of their political lives next year -- if for no other purpose, to shake them up enough that maybe they'd consider throwing Bush under the bus on impeachment in order to save themselves.
Floor's open, what do you think?