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“I thought Krolicki made it plain that he was not going to run for the Senate ?”

That was prior to all the charges against him being thrown out.

“I’m thinking he should keep his powder dry and run in ‘12 to replace John Ensign.”

Vitter ran for reelection, and there's no telling what Ensign will do. 3 years is a looong time in politics. Krolicki wanted to run against Reid prior to the politically motivated charges against him (reminiscent of accusations against Hutchison when she first ran for the Senate), and I don't think that he should wait two years just because Lowden and Tarkanian filed to run (especially since neither one would have filed had Krolicki filed months ago, which would have occurred had he not been charged). Maybe Lowden and Tarkanian (both of whose résumés are a bit thin to be running for the Senate) can get elected to something in 2010 (Lt. Gov. may be available)and then run for the Senate in 2012 if Ensign retires.

Maybe I misread a story this week that said he wasn’t going to run, even if the charges were going to be dropped. The comparisons to Vitter and Ensign are a bit different, however. Vitter wasn’t harmed by his personal indiscretions, but Ensign, conversely, has approval ratings not too dissimilar to Reid’s now, one reason I don’t expect him to run again. Of course, Jim Gibbons is refusing to stand aside as Governor, and he is more unpopular than Reid (even Rory would beat Gibbons one-on-one), so you never know. I say keep Krolicki as Lt Governor and if Ensign refuses to stand aside (a la Gibbons) we run him in the primary.

Flimsy résumés or not, either Lowden or Tarkanian will beat Reid, and I don’t want to see some brutal three-way primary that could potentially harm us for the general. At the moment, I’m leaning towards Tarkanian, so I wouldn’t necessarily feel bad if Lowden switched to running for another statewide office (such as Sec of State). We also need a strong recruit to take out Reid’s flunky, Atty Gen Catherine Cortez Masto, but I don’t think either Lowden or Tarkanian have law credentials to do so.