NY-Sen: Peter King, Susan Molinari both opt out.

I Heard About King (4.00 / 2)

And in his statement as to why he won't run he stated that he would have to spend a lot of time in Upstate and that since he expects the Republicans to take back The House in November and he would be head of Homeland Security he's more needed in Congress than running for the Senate.

Didn't know about Molinari until I read this post and I'm kind of surprised that she's taking a pass.

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by: ROSALIE907 @ Mon Jan 11, 2010 at 21:47:54 PM UTC

Gee (4.00 / 2)

That's clever of him to note he "would have to" spend a lot of time upstate.  Which, after all, is where most of NYS's Republicans actually, you know, "have to" live.

With both of these leaving the field, one would have to contemplate this possibility: maybe it is Senator Gillibrand herself that is clearing all but the most absurdly arrogant (Ford) from the field.  She is, it seems, very good.

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by: robinia @ Mon Jan 11, 2010 at 22:14:34 PM UTC

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Nobody can blame Schumer for chasing away the Republicans, that's for sure. (4.00 / 2)

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by: Adama D. Brown @ Mon Jan 11, 2010 at 22:22:46 PM UTC

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Talk about the luck of the Irish... (4.00 / 1)

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by: JohnS @ Mon Jan 11, 2010 at 22:16:12 PM UTC

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I can't tell if he really believes that nonsense or not, but I tend to doubt it. (4.00 / 1)

If he thought that there really was going to be a big wave of anti-Democratic sentiment, I suspect he would go for the much more powerful Senate seat.

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by: Adama D. Brown @ Mon Jan 11, 2010 at 22:21:50 PM UTC

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No power for King in the Senate (4.00 / 2)

There are, at most, five vulnerable Democratic seats in the Senate (AR, CO, DE, ND, NV), meaning Republicans have no chance of gaining formal control.  In addition, there are five or six vulnerable Republican seats (FL, KY, MO, NH, OH and maybe LA), so it's quite possible that Democrats will be able to gain real control -- and tell Joe Lieberman to take a long walk off a short pier.

Of course, the odds against Republicans taking control of the House are incredibly long, too, as they would have to win 40 seats -- even the Democrats didn't pick up that many seats in 2006, and that was with Jack Abramoff, Randy "Duke" Cunningham and Mark Foley (oh yeah -- and Iraq).  Yes, Dems lost 54 seats in the 1994 bloodbath, but the Republicans had a reasonable-sounding leader and a specific agenda ... sort of.  All they have now is being the "party of no," and that's not going to drive people to the polls.

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by: Dan Jacoby @ Mon Jan 11, 2010 at 22:54:01 PM UTC

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No significant power for him in the House, either... (4.00 / 1)

...But in the Senate he has a bigger title in order to get on TV shows and talk about how Obama isn't saying "terrorism" enough, and he has a bigger budget for hiring lackeys.  

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by: Adama D. Brown @ Mon Jan 11, 2010 at 23:28:43 PM UTC

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Here's a scenario: (4.00 / 2)

it doesn't seem farfetched to me for Ford to run either as an independent or on the Republican line.

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by: GallatinDan @ Mon Jan 11, 2010 at 22:52:36 PM UTC

To me, it DIDN'T, until now. (4.00 / 1)

The fact that suddenly he's trying to do a 180 on gay marriage says that he's not looking that direction.  

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by: Adama D. Brown @ Mon Jan 11, 2010 at 23:27:32 PM UTC

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King, and Molinari to a lesser extent, (4.00 / 2)

got a nice boost in name recognition and political stature from their trial balloons.

Which was presumably the point.

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by: devtob @ Mon Jan 11, 2010 at 23:35:06 PM UTC

Probably what it's all about. Both Molinari and Ford would (0.00 / 0)

have to give up a lot of money to be a senator.  Plus, opposition research would have a field day with everything they've said, every person they've met since they've been out of the political arena.

It's gotten to be almost a cliche as each potential Gillibrand challenger bathes in the spotlight for a couple of weeks and then disappears.

Hey, maybe Nader can run against her, or does he only awake from his hibernation every 4 years to run for President?

HylasBrook

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by: HylasBrook @ Tue Jan 12, 2010 at 00:23:09 AM UTC

[ Parent ]