Republican leaders in the Senate have been “making the rounds” to gauge the re-election plans of all incumbent members up for re-election in 2010. There have already been four retirement announcements, and leaders are trying to get any additional decisions out of the way early so recruitment in those states can begin.
The basic message to members running for another term is to start campaigning right now. Republicans feel that Democrats had an advantage in the last cycle by getting their ground-game in place early on in the process.
Roll Call (link appears to be free) reports:
Wary of repeating the electoral bloodletting of the past two cycles, Senate Republican leaders are pressuring their colleagues up for re-election in 2010 to immediately begin putting in place extensive fundraising and ground operations.
National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Cornyn (Texas) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) have been making the rounds with Senate GOP incumbents to gauge their re-election plans. The two leaders are urging Senators to decide quickly whether they plan to run again and, if they do, to begin mounting aggressive and early campaigns to ensure their survival.
One Republican, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Cornyn and McConnell have told colleagues that “if you’re going to retire, you need to make the decision in the very near future, because we don’t want to be in this position six months from now,” having to identify new candidates.
Already, four GOP incumbents — Sens. Mel Martinez (Fla.), Kit Bond (Mo.), Sam Brownback (Kan.) and George Voinovich (Ohio) — have announced plans to retire in 2010. Voinovich announced his decision on Monday just days after a GOP retreat at which Cornyn warned colleagues that they will need to spend extensive time fundraising and traveling to their states to put together winning campaigns.
Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, has been using Oregon and especially North Carolina last year as an example to learn from for Republicans.
Cornyn and others said that in a number of states, most notably North Carolina and Oregon, solid GOP incumbents were knocked off in part because they waited too long to try to counter strong Democratic grass-roots and fundraising operations.
“When you’re running against the [Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee], MoveOn.org and [the Service Employees International Union] … even in places like North Carolina and Oregon, where incumbents were well-funded,” the GOP was unable to hold on, Cornyn explained.
Indeed, former Sen. Elizabeth Dole’s (R-N.C.) campaign has, in many ways, come to exemplify the Senate GOP’s problems over the past two cycles. According to Republicans present at last week’s retreat, Cornyn used Dole’s race as an example of what’s gone wrong, and warned his colleagues in no uncertain terms that they must start campaigning immediately.
Senator John Thune (R-SD) said he got the message, and it was a pretty sobering one for Republicans.
Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), who is facing re-election in two years, said Cornyn’s warnings came through loud and clear.
“The basic message was there are no safe seats anymore,” Thune said.
Update: The Hill reports that Cornyn does not anticipate any more retirement announcements this cycle. He even said that Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), expected to run for governor in 2010, may not resign so her seat could remain in Republican hands.
