The news up in Colorado has rocked the world like a political earthquake.
At USA Today, "Senate battleground expands in GOP's favor":
WASHINGTON — Republican Rep. Cory Gardner's entrance into Colorado's U.S. Senate race against incumbent Democratic Sen. Mark Udall opens up a new front in the expanding 2014 battlefield for control of the U.S. Senate.PREVIOUSLY: "'The battle for control of the U.S. Senate is where the action is this year in American politics...'"
Democrats control the Senate 55-45, with the assist of two independents who caucus with Democrats, but they face strong challenges in the midterm elections with races clustered in conservative-leaning states that have stacked the political landscape in GOP territory.
While Colorado has tilted toward Democrats in recent elections — Barack Obama won it twice — Republicans see an opportunity to put Democrats on the defensive in a swing state.
"In 2008, Colorado led the nation in change," Gardner said Saturday at an event at a Denver lumberyard to kick off his campaign, in reference to Obama's nomination for president during the Democratic National Convention in Denver. "In 2014, we can change it again."
Chris Harris, a Udall spokesman, said the senator is ready for the fight. "The people of Colorado know that Mark spends every day working to protect Colorado's way of life," he said, "Despite what Republican leaders are trying to say about Gardner to try and cover up his reckless behavior and paint him as a mainstream candidate, that's just not true."
Democrats responded Friday with a new recruit of their own, former U.S. representative Travis Childers, who announced on the eve of the March 1 filing deadline that he is entering the U.S. Senate contest in Mississippi, where incumbent GOP Sen. Thad Cochran is running for re-election. Cochran first faces a June primary threat from state Sen. Chris McDaniel, a Tea Party favorite.
Incumbents seldom lose re-election, but if McDaniel were to defeat Cochran in the primary, Democrats face potentially better odds in the general election contest, where recent elections have resulted in Democratic victories over Tea Party candidates in states like Indiana and Delaware. However, the Deep South remains an uphill climb for Democrats running statewide.
Overall, the 2014 landscape is tilting in the GOP's favor and the party is working to put more races in play to improve their prospects for a takeover.
Republicans are also touting the recent entry of Ed Gillespie, a prominent national GOP strategist, into Virginia's Senate race against incumbent Democratic Sen. Mark Warner as another top recruit who could transform what had been second-tier races this cycle into potentially decisive races in determining Senate control.
Republicans are also not ruling out a run at Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., as well, but the party has yet to coalesce around a candidate. The GOP's top choice, former senator Scott Brown, R-Mass., recently switched his residency to the Granite State and has teased a potential Senate run in a new state, but he has yet to make a decision.
Justin Barasky, a spokesman for the Senate Democrats' campaign operation, scoffed at the GOP's trio of recent and potential recruits. "Kudos to Republicans for landing people that can form coherent sentences, but it will not paper over the fact that they support a reckless and irresponsible Republican agenda that is wildly unpopular amongst voters," he said.
Democrats, however, have no additional states to expand the map in 2014, and they are defending more races overall...
0 comments:
Post a Comment