2010 Senate Recruitment Project

California

- Darrell Issa - he has the money and is well known from the recall effort

Illinois

- Steve Rauschenberger - conservative former State Senator, has twice lost statewide primaries for Senate and Lieutenant Governor but has a good reputation as a reformer

New York

- Michael Benjamin, raised nearly a million dollars to challenge Schumer in 2004 but was forced out of the race by the state GOP...

North Dakota

- Ag Secretary and former Governor Ed Schafer

Vermont

- Martha Rainville - 2006 US House nominee, ran a great campaign

Wisconsin

- Former Rep. Scott Klug - member of the Gang of Seven, represented a Democratic district, been out of politics for a while but heard rumors he might be interested...

It's rumored that Wyden is sick of Washington and may run for governor as Kulongoski is term limited in 2010, and thus leave his seat open.  Maybe he & Teddy want to trade places? It's also thought that Walden may want to do the same thing on the Republican side of the gubenatorial ticket.  Mannix is a possibility, but couldn't win his primary fight for CD-5 against Mike Erickson, in spite of Erickson's obvious electability problems.

You really should add Rep. Jon Porter to the list.  He lost in 2008 in a district that is trending Democrat, but I still think he'd be the best challenger to Reid, who is not popular.

"That should start in the 2010 races for the Senate."

I read that and picture 20,000 center-right bloggers across the land pouring billions of words and hours into high-level politics upon which they can have absolutely zero influence or impact. Meanwhile, at the school board, village council, county commission and state legislative level statists and the government class will continue to dominate the action, with very little attention paid.

Hey folks, at these levels you really can have influence and make a difference. Don't get distracted by this other stuff.

Replacement with Sarah Steelman?  She lost against the GOP machine in MO for governor, but seems to be one of the new guard.

This is a great thread you are putting together, but I think Rudy should be encouraged to run for NYGov. I'd give Rudy a 60% chance of beating Patterson, who has no real leadership creds, personal failings, and is basically admitting that New York is in fiscal crisis. It's almost a repeat of 1993 vs Dinkins.

Read on Redstate: " I see George Allen is considering running for Gov of VA...."
This would be a GREAT way to bring back the GOP into a state of hope, I am sure George Allen could retake the job he once had, and in the process rehabilitate his political career.

IL - "Mike Ditka" Oy vey! If only he had done this in 2004, history might be very different right about now.

Chirs Shays is a great pick against Dodd, especially if Shay can differentiate on issues of corruption. Dodd is a (D- Countrywide) Senator.

Should the Kennedy seat open up, an obvious name that presents itself is Mitt Romney, who ran for that seat in 1994.

It's unlikely that the New York GOP will invest much in the fool's errand of going after Chuck Schumer, when there are other priorities such as the Governor's mansion, House seats, and most importantly, winning back the State Senate so we can avoid the kind of redistricting that would doom New York Republicans to the same fate as those in Illinois.

That said, here are some other figures who could consider running for Senate:

Rep. Peter King (R-NY 3)- Rep. King may have his eye on a statewide run, especially if his congressional district is gerrymandered out of existence by virtue of the projection that New York will lose two House seats in the upcoming census reapportionment. He would probably not challenge Rudy Giuliani for the gubernatorial nomination and has wide name recognition across Long Island, a longtime fertile ground for the GOP that has seen Democrat gains.

Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco- Tedisco is the highest powered Republican assemblyman and could compete in parts of the Hudson Valley. He was also the recipient of Eliot Spitzer's "effing steamroller" comment.

Michael Benjamin- Benjamin, who will be 41 on Election Day 2010, was turned down for the nomination to challenge Schumer in 2004, but had outraised the GOP nominee and generated some buzz amongst more conservative Republicans.

Ed Cox- A conservative attorney with Paterson Belknap, he is the husband of Richard Nixon's daughter.

Lingle might be able to win an open seat contest in Hawaii, but there will be several high powered Dems line up for that same seat, and the Dems have a complete stranglehold on the state.  Lingle won an open Gov. seat race after narrowly losing her first effort, running against a very lackluster Lt. Gov.  She won re-election in a walkover while the national GOP was still riding high.  Her chances in an open seat race would be OK, but she'd have no chance taking on Inouye if he decides to run again, and signs are pointing to him doing so. 

Re California -- who in the world suggested Devin Nunes??  He's a dim bulb -- there are probably 100 elected GOP politiicans throughout Calif. better suited to run statewide than Nunes.  A rising star in the GOP -- assuming he wants to leave the House -- is Kevin McClatchey.  A far superior politician and candidate to Nunes. 

"The Dems have no shortage of self-sacrificing figures like Mark Warner who could have gone higher but instead performed a valuable service to their party by limiting their longshot national ambitions, keeping themselves in the game, and growing the party."

I have always thought it queer the political wanna-bees who only want to go for the top prize- president. (Pat Buchanan, Steve Forbes, and why didn't VP Quayle run for Gov to prove his chops).  Buchanan could have done a Hillary and run in West Virginia and Forbes could have done a Corzine and bought a NJ senate seat.

Now we have Huckabee and Romney holding out for the top job. 

Give Tony Brown (Journal) a shot in NY (or Floyd Flake)?

Rudy fixed the unfixable NYC, can he fix the basket case NY?  Look what Reagan accomplished after Carter.

Patrick,

Thanks for pointing out that my home state is ripe for the picking.

Not only did the state go +20 for McCain, but even the most liberal congressional district went +10 for McCain - and that number includes an 80-20 spread for BHO in Pulaski County, home of the state's largest city.

It is important that the state party identify a candidate to run against Blanche Lincoln (who has yet to announce her opposition to card check, despite representing a right to work state), but must find people to run against Reps. Marion Berry (D-AR01), Vic Snyder (D-AR02) and Mike Ross (D-AR04), and hold them accountable for the votes they will take in support of BHO's policies over the next two years.

I have more on the voting numbers on my site, at this link.