The Occasional Observer

With a huge plagiarising hat tip to the FreeRepublic blog, here's a great post that I thought deserved reprinting. Contact Occ Obs if you guys are looking for royalties.

2008 senate elections

U.S. Senate Races Open seats

Delaware (Biden-D) - Biden announced in June of 2005 that he's going to run for president in 2008. But watch for Biden to back away from that in the shadow of Hillary.

Retirement watch

Alaska (Stevens-R) - Senator Ted Stevens is old, my friend. Born Nov. 18, 1923, Stevens will be nearly 85 years old on Election Day in 2008. Somewhat of a crybaby, Stevens frequently threatens to retire if he doesn't get his way on various votes.

Iowa (Harkin-D) - Born Nov. 19, 1939, Harkin will be nearly 69 on Election Day in 2008.

Kansas (Roberts-R) - Born April 20, 1936, Roberts will be 72 on Election Day in 2008.

Massachusetts (Kerry-D) - Born Dec. 11, 1943, Kerry appears to be preparing to run for president again in 2008.

Michigan (Levin-D) - Born June 28, 1934, Levin will be 74 on election day in 2008. Rumor has it he won't be running for re-election.

Mississippi (Cochrane-R) - Born Dec. 7, 1937, Cochrane will be nearly 71 years old on Election Day in 2008.

Nebraska (Hagel-R) - Hagel may decide to seek the presidency in 2008. He was born Oct. 4, 1946.

New Jersey (Lautenberg-D) - Born Jan. 23, 1924, Lautenberg will be 84 on Election Day in 2008. He had reluctantly come out of retirement in 2002 as a replacement candidate for the Democrats, and few expect him to serve out the whole term. Look for his announcement after the 2006 election.

New Mexico (Domenici-R) - Born May 7, 1932, Domenici will be 76 on Election Day in 2008.

North Carolina (Dole-R) - Born July 29, 1936, Dole will be 72 on Election Day in 2008.

Oklahoma (Inhofe-R) - Born Nov. 17, 1934, Inhofe will be nearly 74 on Election Day in 2008.

Tennessee (Alexander-R) - Born July 3, 1940, Alexander will be 68 on Election Day in 2008.

Virginia (Warner-R) - Born Feb. 18, 1927, Warner will be 81 years old on Election Day in 2008.

West Virginia (Rockefeller-D) - Born June 18, 1937, Rockefeller will be 71 years old on Election Day in 2008.

In Trouble???

Colorado (Allard-R) - The election doesn't happen for more than three years, but Allard already has a high-profile challenger. Rep. Mark Udall (D) passed on the 2006 governor race to take on Allard in 2008.

Georgia (Chambliss-R) - Georgia Democrats will no doubt give Chambliss a run for his money, considering the nasty 2002 campaign ads he ran in which he questioned the patriotism of Max Cleland, who lost both legs and an arm in the Viet Nam War.

Minnesota (Coleman-R) - If Air America radio talk show host Al Franken lives up to his promise to run for this seat, it could get interesting. If not, Coleman is pretty safe.

South Carolina (Graham-R) - Moderate Sen. Lindsay Graham may see a primary challenge from the right, possibly Charleston developer Thomas Ravenel, who has criticized Graham for brokering a deal with Democrats on President Bush's judicial nomination.

South Dakota (Johnson-D) - Johnson will likely be a top GOP target in 2008, considering his close victory in 2002 over John Thune (R), who later toppled Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D) in 2004.

Safe seats (for now!)

Arkansas (Pryor-D) - Born Jan. 10, 1963

Alabama (Sessions-R) - Born Dec. 24, 1946

Idaho (Craig-R) - Born July 20, 1945

Illinois (Durbin-D) - Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin was born Nov. 21, 1944.

Kentucky (McConnell-R) - Born Feb 20, 1942

Louisiana (Landrieu-D) - Born Nov. 23, 1955

Maine (Collins-R) - Born Dec. 7, 1952

Montana (Baucus-D) - A five-term senator, Baucus was born Dec. 11, 1941.

New Hampshire (Sununu-R) - Born Sept. 10, 1964

Oregon (Smith-R) - Born May 25, 1952

Rhode Island (Reed-D) - Born Nov. 12, 1949

Texas (Cornyn-R) - Born Feb. 2, 1952

Wyoming (Enzi-R) - Born Feb. 1, 1944

Not up for re-election, but may retire

Hawaii (Inouye-D) - Inouye recently coasted to re-election. Born Sept. 7, 1924, he'll be 82 years old on election day in 2006. He's up for re-election in 2010.

Iowa (Grassley-R) - Born Sept. 17, 1933, Grassley will be 73 on election day in 2006. Grassley is up for re-election in 2010.

Kentucky (Bunning-R) - Born Oct. 23, 1931, Bunning will be 77 on election day in 2008. He is up for re-election in 2010.

Maryland (Mikulski-D) - Born July 20, 1936, Mikulski will be 72 on election day in 2008. She is up for re-election in 2010.

Pennsylvania (Specter-R) - Born Feb. 12, 1930, Specter will be 78 in 2008. He's up for re-election in 2010. In Feb. 2005, Specter announced that he had Hodgkin's lympoma and underwent 26 weeks of chemotherapy. Specter appears to be doing well, but he may want to retire before his term is up.

Utah (Bennett-R) - Born Sept. 18, 1933, Bennett will be 75 on election day in 2008. He is up for re-election in 2010.