As is the norm with any new President, Barack Obama appointed a number of sitting Senators, Representatives and Governors to his cabinet. In addition to picking two Senators - New York's Hillary Clinton and Colorado's Ken Salazar - to his cabinet, President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden also vacated senate seats when they changed offices.
These seats were all replaced by gubernatorial appointments. All four appointees will have to win a special election next November to stay in office. And the choice of appointees could come back to haunt Obama and the Democrats next year.
Tom Jensen of Public Policy Polling notes today that Michael Bennet, who was appointed by Colorado Governor Bill Ritter to replace the aforementioned Salazar, is trailing all three Republican challengers in the latest Rasmussen poll. I agree with him that this is indicative of the problems Democrats will face defending all four seats next year.
Hillary Clinton's replacement, Kirsten Gillibrand, is in a dogfight with former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and others. Longtime Biden aide Ted Kauffman was appointed as a caretaker with anticipation of Biden's son, Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, running next year, but the younger Biden is trailing or barely leading the state's longtime At-Large Congressman, Republican Mike Castle. And while Roland Burris is mercifully not running next year, the scandal that led to his appointment by since-impeached Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich to replace Obama could open the door for Republican Congressman Mark Kirk to steal a seat for the Republicans in the President's home state.
While Gillibrand hasn't been that bad of a Senator and twice won election to Congress from a Republican-leaning district, her appointment was very clumsily handled. And the party might have been better served by a proven statewide campaigner like Andrew Cuomo (who is now expected to run for Governor of New York next year).
Gillibrand looks like a terrific choice compared to Blagojevich's selection of Burris over a proven statewide winner like Lisa Madigan. And, as Jensen notes, Bennet polled 17 points weaker than Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper.
To be fair, there wasn't much that could be done in Delaware, since Beau Biden was still serving in the military and couldn't come back to be appointed. But if then-Governor Ruth Ann Minner had appointed someone who planned to run next year, maybe Castle - the only prominent Republican in Delaware politics - wouldn't have gotten in the race.
I'll do a more detailed column on all of the senate seats up for grabs after the New Year. But these are four Senate seats that Republicans can steal next year. And none of them would have been in play if their appointments were handled better.
Comments
Why do you say that Kirsten Gillibrand "is in a dogfight with former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and others," when Giuliani has not only not announced his candidacy for her seat, but is considered unlikely to? And why do you say she is "not that bad of a Senator?" Aside from the grammatical shortcomings of that sentence, it is also untrue. If you don't know anything about Gillibrand, you should not be writing about her.
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