Bell Curve The Law Talking Guy Raised by Republicans U.S. West
Well, he's kind of had it in for me ever since I accidentally ran over his dog. Actually, replace "accidentally" with "repeatedly," and replace "dog" with "son."

Monday, January 12, 2009

Voinovich to Retire

Another Senate Republican is set to retire, Ohio Senator George Voinovich. His seat was going to be difficult to retain with incumbency advantage - now it is more depressing news for the GOP. Also announcing 2010 retirement are Mel Martinez (R-FL), Sam Brownback (R-KS), and Kit Bond (R-MO). Missouri, Florida, and Ohio are all swing states. What is interesting to me is that Voinovich, by announcing right now that he will retire, liberates himself from threats to his re-election. In otherwords, he becomes harder for his own party to control.

1 comment:

Raised By Republicans said...

It will be interesting to see who the two parties put up for the Ohio seat. Neither party is in great shape in Ohio. Of course the GOP's disarray in the state is more recent.

Of some interest is what happened in the OH-15 this election. After a series of legal fights and attempts at throwing out ballots, the Republicans lost that seat. I grew up in that district. It is the kind of place where you would never expect a Democrat to come close let alone win. And yet, Mary Jo Kilroy nearly won in 2006 and then pulled off the win in the open seat in 2008. The reason this district is important is that it is where the Central Ohio Republicans live. If it is trending Democratic, it has serious implications for state wide races.