MS-Sen: Cochran won't decide till year's end, early next year

[RogueBeaver]

Per Roll Call.

http://atr.rollcall.com/mississippi-cochran-puts-off-re-election-decision/

[Drop Billionaires, Not Bombs]

Safe D.

[RogueBeaver]

Safe D.

[Miles]

I hope he stays on; he's a pretty benign Republican, IMO, and I want the Gulf Coast to keep as much seniority as possible.

[Kaine for Senate '18]

Yeah, its' not like a replacement would be any better.

[Rocky Rockefeller]

If he were to retire then who could potentially replace him in the senate?

[Miles]

If he were to retire then who could potentially replace him in the senate?

Probably Nunnlee or Harper.

I think Palazzo's vote against Sandy relief could come back to hurt him.

If Gene Taylor ran, that would be awesome. MS is now up to 44% Obama; Taylor could very well get the extra 6% from overperforming along the Gulf Coast.

[Rocky Rockefeller]

If he were to retire then who could potentially replace him in the senate?

If Gene Taylor ran, that would be awesome. MS is now up to 44% Obama; Taylor could very well get the extra 6% from overperforming along the Gulf Coast.

I don't think dems are picking up this seat. Though I don't doubt that the right dem could come reasonably close if the environment permits.

[Del Tachi]

If he were to retire then who could potentially replace him in the senate?

Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann has effectively been running for the seat since last year.  I don't like him for one reason though:  he's too old, I want someone who can build up seniority.

I personally would like Stacey Pickering (State Auditor) or Mark Keenum (President of MSU and former Cochran CoS) to run.  They're both young and very close to Cochran ideologically.

My worst nightmare is that the seat is hijacked by some Tea Partier like Palazzo, Nunnelee, or Tate Reeves.  Gregg Harper would be OK.

Of course, I still have my fingers crossed that Cochran will run again in 2014.  However, I would say that he most probably won't. 

I think a lot of it will come down to how the sequester and future other budget battles go.  Cochran is an appropriator, if he feels that he can stay in the Senate as an appropriator then he will stay until 2020.  If not, he will leave in 2014.

[Del Tachi]

As far of the DEMs goes, if someone like Reeves or Palazzo ends-up getting the nod then I'm hopeing that Gene Taylor or Ray Mabus runs.

I'm very fond of Mabus, and would probably vote for him in a Mabus/Reeves, Mabus/Nunnelee, Mabus/Palazzo, or even a Mabus/Harper race.  

[Where's the Epstein Client List?]

As far of the DEMs goes, if someone like Reeves or Palazzo ends-up getting the nod then I'm hopeing that Gene Taylor or Ray Mabus runs.

I'm very fond of Mabus, and would probably vote for him in a Mabus/Reeves, Mabus/Nunnelee, Mabus/Palazzo, or even a Mabus/Harper race.  

Mabus was Obama's Secretary of the Navy. That connection likely makes him a non-starter.

While Gene Taylor is a competent politician, his last-ditch effort to save his doomed 2010 re-election campaign by running around declaring he had voted for John McCain in 2008 was one of the dumbest, most craven cases of @$$-covering I've ever seen a politician do.

[Mr.Phips]

If he were to retire then who could potentially replace him in the senate?

Probably Nunnlee or Harper.

I think Palazzo's vote against Sandy relief could come back to hurt him.

If Gene Taylor ran, that would be awesome. MS is now up to 44% Obama; Taylor could very well get the extra 6% from overperforming along the Gulf Coast.

Yeah.  It is really interesting how Mississippi politics have changed in the past few decades.  The last reasonably close Senate race in the state was between Wayne Dowdy and Trent Lott in 1988.  Dowdy was actually quite liberal and got 46% of the vote.  What's interesting is that he cleaned up in the 1st district, winning nearly every single county there.  That would never happen these days. 

[Talleyrand]

If he were to retire then who could potentially replace him in the senate?

Probably Nunnlee or Harper.

I think Palazzo's vote against Sandy relief could come back to hurt him.

If Gene Taylor ran, that would be awesome. MS is now up to 44% Obama; Taylor could very well get the extra 6% from overperforming along the Gulf Coast.

How about a candidate from the Northeast Quadrant of the state, like Travis Childers, who could overperform in the ancestrally Democratic areas?

Not that I seriously think this could be a pick-up, but one can dream.

[Stranger in a strange land]

As far of the DEMs goes, if someone like Reeves or Palazzo ends-up getting the nod then I'm hopeing that Gene Taylor or Ray Mabus runs.

I'm very fond of Mabus, and would probably vote for him in a Mabus/Reeves, Mabus/Nunnelee, Mabus/Palazzo, or even a Mabus/Harper race.  

Mabus was Obama's Secretary of the Navy. That connection likely makes him a non-starter.

While Gene Taylor is a competent politician, his last-ditch effort to save his doomed 2010 re-election campaign by running around declaring he had voted for John McCain in 2008 was one of the dumbest, most craven cases of @$$-covering I've ever seen a politician do.

If Taylor had lost gracefully, he could have tried for a return to office once the Tea Party Craze blew over or tried to run for state office further down the road, but that's not going to happen now. Needless to say, he would lose if he ran for Senate, and even if he won, having him constantly undermining the party wouldn't be worth having the extra seat.

[smoltchanov]

If Taylor had lost gracefully, he could have tried for a return to office once the Tea Party Craze blew over or tried to run for state office further down the road, but that's not going to happen now. Needless to say, he would lose if he ran for Senate, and even if he won, having him constantly undermining the party wouldn't be worth having the extra seat.

50% is "constantly"? IMHO - it's still much better then 0% you would get from ANY Republican alternative. In Mississippi you don't dream about electing a"progressive", it's not a Vermont. For Democrat to have even a slightest chance to win in Mississippi  a "relative conservatism" is a must. Still, he will be less conservative then any alternative...

[memphis]

Greg Davis all the way!

[smoltchanov]

Greg Davis all the way!

And Childers as his opponent)))

[Obamanation]

If Childers is the nominee (or Taylor), sure we should spend money on this, but I highly doubt either will run.

[Stranger in a strange land]

If Taylor had lost gracefully, he could have tried for a return to office once the Tea Party Craze blew over or tried to run for state office further down the road, but that's not going to happen now. Needless to say, he would lose if he ran for Senate, and even if he won, having him constantly undermining the party wouldn't be worth having the extra seat.

50% is "constantly"? IMHO - it's still much better then 0% you would get from ANY Republican alternative. In Mississippi you don't dream about electing a"progressive", it's not a Vermont. For Democrat to have even a slightest chance to win in Mississippi  a "relative conservatism" is a must. Still, he will be less conservative then any alternative...

Taylor would never be the deciding vote on anything remotely important. Of course, the real problem would be that the fact that he constantly sided with Republicans on important or controversial votes would be held up as evidence by the right that their policies were "bipartisan" and backed by "moderates" like Taylor. These sorts of things matter a lot in the media.

[smoltchanov]

If Taylor had lost gracefully, he could have tried for a return to office once the Tea Party Craze blew over or tried to run for state office further down the road, but that's not going to happen now. Needless to say, he would lose if he ran for Senate, and even if he won, having him constantly undermining the party wouldn't be worth having the extra seat.

50% is "constantly"? IMHO - it's still much better then 0% you would get from ANY Republican alternative. In Mississippi you don't dream about electing a"progressive", it's not a Vermont. For Democrat to have even a slightest chance to win in Mississippi  a "relative conservatism" is a must. Still, he will be less conservative then any alternative...

Taylor would never be the deciding vote on anything remotely important. Of course, the real problem would be that the fact that he constantly sided with Republicans on important or controversial votes would be held up as evidence by the right that their policies were "bipartisan" and backed by "moderates" like Taylor. These sorts of things matter a lot in the media.

Well, i am a moderate myself and remember Taylor since his first day in Congress in 1989. And - completely disagree: he voted with the party as frequently as his very conservative district  would allow (especially - on economy), he was of great help after Katrina hurricane hit area, and, while being "conservative-leaning", he wasn't an "old-stule Mississippi Democrat" like Eastland, Colmer or Williams. I stick to my assessment, that Taylor (or Childers with essentially the same views) is the most liberal candidate able to win in Mississippi statewide for next 20-25 years. The only statewide-elected Democrat in state (Attorney General Hood) is, for example, solid social conservative too. It's a Mississippi

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Safe D.

Is this 1913 or something?