Posted on 04/23/2013 6:05:19 PM PDT by Sub-Driver
2014 retirements: Dems heading for the hills By: Alexander Burns April 23, 2013 04:49 PM EDT
Doesn’t anyone want to run for Senate in 2014?
Midway through candidate recruitment season, the bad news for Democrats is this: They are watching a generation of talent leave the Senate and head for retirement.
The less-bad news: So far, few marquee-name Republicans are interested in these seats either.
When Montana Sen. Max Baucus called it quits on Tuesday, he became the latest in a long series of senior legislators to announce that they’ve had quite enough of life on the Hill. National Democrats are now banking on former Gov. Brian Schweitzer to enter the race in order to keep the seat in Democratic hands.
They face a similar situation in Michigan, where Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin’s retirement has the party looking to Rep. Gary Peters as its savior, and in South Dakota, where they hope former Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin or U.S. Attorney Brendan Johnson can mount a strong campaign in the absence of retiring Sen. Tim Johnson, who chairs the Banking Housing and Urban Affairs Committee.
And those aren’t the only ultra-senior senators leaving the chamber after 2014: Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia and Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Tom Harkin of Iowa have also decided to call it a career.
New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg, who at 89 is the last World War II veteran serving in the Senate, has also announced he will not run again.
For Democrats, the result is a wide swath of open-seat races where well-funded incumbents once stood. More often than not, they are counting on a single high-value recruit — or perhaps two — to stave off big Republican gains.
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
The fact that Al Franken is a United States Senator is proof that our society is depraved.
You have hit the nail right on the head!!! POTUS Obama is both a failed POTUS and, is now a full blown “Lame Duck”!!! Need any objective person say more!!! The RATS are deserting the sinking ship!!!
The Democrats are “retiring” to taunt the GOP even further; the more they retire, the poorer the hapless GOP does. Republicans lack the creativity to take advantage of Democrat weaknesses. All the primary voters know to do is nominate people like Romney, Sanford, Lindsey Graham, McPain. You don’t win with that lineup.
Yep, Theodore, the Stupid Party will find a way to return all those seats to the Evil Party.
“They’re not heading for the hills; they’re heading for the lobbying gravy train.”
BINGO!
It would be interesting to know which committees each retiree has been serving on... And what they know that is making them leave now.
Couldn’t agree more!
Conservatives MUST find great candidates NOW to not only beat the RINOS but also the DEM challengers. And can we pleasse stick to fiscal issues. 2012 was a cake-walk until Richard Murdock came to town! Yeah the media beat him up, but come on——that stuff just obscures the main points
Different party, same bull.
Ty Matsdorf...remember that name. He's a slimy little weasel who used to work for Baucus and do his dirty work.
Thanks Sub-Driver.
“...a generation of talent”??????? More like a generation of subhuman criminal communists. The writer must be severely retarded.
They caused Obamacare. Their time is come in 2014.
Let’s hope. I thought for sure 2012 was ours. We just have to pray and pick good candidates to run these “supposedly” easy seats.
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