King is in! Angus King (I-ME) to run for Snowe's seat.

[Joe Republic]

The man hasn't won an election since 1998. It's anything but safe.

And yet, fourteen years after winning that election, his favorability rating currently stands at 62%.

[Joe Republic]

I might be misremembering 2000 (I was very young), but were social issues particularly trenchant at that point?

Despite Clinton's lingering popularity, both parties wanted to clean the slate after the Lewinsky debacle.  Republicans tried to play the moral high ground as best they could, with 'compassionate conservatism' as GWB's buzzword throughout the campaign.  Meanwhile, the Democrats gave us Joe Lieberman and Tipper Gore.

[Joe Republic]

Indeed, the VP debate between Lieberman and Cheney was seen as more of a luncheon between old friends than a knockout deathmatch.  But then that's pretty much why Lieberman was put on the ticket in the first place.