January 24, 2003
BUILT TO LAST:
White House seeks to steer Senate races: White House officials have put pressure on at least two House Republicans to put their Senate ambitions on hold and leave the way clear for the administration's favored candidates, Republican sources say. (Allison Stevens, The Hill)To engineer victories in South Dakota and Washington, Reps. William Janklow (R-S.D.) and George Nethercutt (R-Wash.) have been asked to let former Rep. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Rep. Jennifer Dunn (R-Wash.) weigh their options first. [...]In South Carolina, sources say the White House has met Rep. Jim DeMint (R) to discuss challenging Sen. Ernest Hollings, 82, who has not said whether he will retire at the end of his sixth term next year.
A three-term lawmaker from the state's northwest, DeMint is close to the Bush family and supported President Bush in the 2000 presidential race. Former GOP Reps. Lindsey Graham, who won last year’s Senate race to succeed ex-Sen. Strom Thurmond, and Mark Sanford, who won the state’s gubernatorial contest, endorsed Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) in the contested primary. [...]
In North Dakota, White House officials are wooing former Gov. Ed Schafer (R) to take on two-term Sen. Byron Dorgan (D). Schafer, one of the state’s most popular politicians, says he is not interested in the job.
At a Christmas party in Washington he spoke briefly with Bush, who greeted him as "Senator," and added that the name had a "nice ring to it." A North Dakota insider said Schafer has “not closed the door” on a Senate bid and knows "he's on the list to be worked over."
In North Carolina, the administration hopes Rep. Richard Burr (R) will take on presidential contender Sen. John Edwards (D). [...]
In Nevada, the White House reportedly hopes to lure Rep. Jim Gibbons (R) into a race against Sen. Harry Reid (D). Rove met Gibbons in Washington on Dec. 10, according to The Washington Post, and plans to meet him again.
One of the chief stumbling blocks for Republicans winning Congress had always been that after sixty-plus years of Democrat control it was hard to convince qualified candidates to run. 1994 changed all that and now they have a nice feeder system that prepares House members for Senate runs. More important than knocking off weak Democrat incumbents is that these folks are serious enough in their own right that they can win re-election, unlike the looney-tunes class of '80 that Ronald Reagan dragged in. Posted by Orrin Judd at January 24, 2003 11:46 AM
Contrast that with the current Democratic "feeder" system: billionaires and multi-millionares and throw-backs to the 70's. Interesting nobody is pointing the contrast. And who said Reps were the party of old foggeys and money. (On a more cautious note: the downside of relying on a feeder system with gravitas is that they not always accommodate you. To wit: Racicot, Kean, and may be Giuliani, Dunn, Schafer...)
Posted by: MG at January 24, 2003 11:01 AMGetting good candidates and avoiding a big primary fight seems to be key.
That said, while I want to the GOP to do extremely well in '04 (unless they do something really stupid) it's too early for this stuff. It's like watching the first half of a basketball game when you know it probably won't be decided until 2 minutes left.