UPDATED: “About the only safe Republican Senate seats in ‘08 are the ones that aren’t on the ballot”
UPDATE – The Fix: Craig Bows to the Inevitable
From the moment Roll Call reported that Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) had pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in an airport men’s bathroom in June, it was a matter of when, not if, the GOP incumbent resigned his post.
ALSO:
Republican leaders including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) were furious that Craig kept his guilty plea secret from the party and left the Republicans vulnerable to morality attacks heading into the 2008 presidential and congressional elections. McConnell described Craig’s conduct as “unforgivable.”
UPDATE: Here is another analysis by John Judis in The New Republic.
Washington Post: GOP Faces Dimming Prospects in ‘08
A Senate electoral playing field that was already wide open for 2008 has become considerably more perilous for Republicans with the retirement of Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.) and the resignation of Sen. Larry E. Craig (R-Idaho).
Republicans need a net gain of just one seat to take back control of the Senate, but they have 22 seats to defend, and campaign cash is conspicuously lacking. Warner’s retirement raised to two the number of open Republican seats, and both of them — in Virginia and Colorado — are prime targets for Democrats.
