The Senate Races 2012 - Part II
Senate Races Part II - The Republican Safe Seats
The good new for Republicans? of the ten seats that are contested, five are safely remaining with the party.
Here’s a quick run down by state:
Mississippi - Roger Wicker is running against the sacrificial Lamb, Albert Gore (no, not that Al Gore), Wicker is considered so likely to win, there hasn’t been any polling in the state of Mississippi.
Tennessee - Bob Corker is running against Mark Clayton. There has been one poll, and that showed Bob Corker up by 38 points. Competitive, the state is not.
Utah - Orrin Hatch survived a primary scare where the real race for this seat was won. The Democrat, Scott Howell is facing a 41 point deficit, which means he’s going to lose.
Wyoming - John Barrasso is up against Tim Chestnut, and like Mississippi, The race is so in hand for Barrasso, no one has bothered to conduct a poll.
Texas - Ted Cruz, the Tea Party darling, beat out the establishment Republican candidate David Dewhurst in a runoff, despite finishing behind Dewhurst by 11 points in the Primary. His challenger Paul Sadler is facing an uphill climb, which has been made somewhat easier (ie. not utterly impossible) by facing Ted Cruz instead of David Dewhurst. But polling shows Sadler behind by 15 points (54 - 39). This is the most competitive of the safe Republican seats, but it would take a combination of serious buyers remorse, coupled with historic turnout, and Cruz making several unforced errors before Sadler would have any real shot.
My next part will look at Democrat safe seats, but there are so many of them I might just list most or all of them.