DE-Sen: Beau Biden rules out run

by desmoinesdem, Mon Jan 25, 2010 at 10:33:36 AM EST

Delaware attorney general Beau Biden announced Monday that he will not seek election to the U.S. Senate seat once held by his father, Vice President Joe Biden.
The younger Biden told supporters in an e-mail that he will run for re-election as attorney general rather than seek the Senate seat his father held for 36 years. [...]

"I have a duty to fulfill as attorney general, and the immediate need to focus on a case of great consequence. And that is what I must do," Biden, 40, wrote. "Therefore I cannot and will not run for the United States Senate in 2010. I will run for re-election as Attorney General."

The Senate seat is now held by Ted Kaufman, Joe Biden's longtime confidante and former Senate chief of staff, who was appointed by Delaware's then-governor to serve in an interim capacity until the 2010 election. Kaufman last week reiterated the pledge he made upon being appointed that he would not be a candidate in 2010.

Kaufman was appointed specifically to be a placeholder so Beau Biden could run after returning from Iraq. Now Biden's not willing to work for this seat.

Democratic governors had four chances to appoint Senators following the 2008 election, and all four screwed up. Now former Republican Governor Mike Castle is going to be heavily favored to win the seat in Delaware, although we should have a fighting chance in a D+7 state. It would have been better to name Delaware Lieutenant Governor John Carney to this seat.

UPDATE: Swing State Project has moved this race from tossup to lean Republican.

Tags: 2010 elections, Congress, Senate, DE-Sen, Mike Castle, Beau Biden (all tags)

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I don't know

it may present the Dems with more problems in the 2010 midterms, but in the long run, do the Dems really want to be a "political dynasty" party. My own armchair punditry on the Massachusetts race is that the voters were partially rebelling against the Dems treating Massachusetts like a plaything and changing the rules to get Martha Coakley in there in the first place. Having Beau Biden run has a similar feeling. It could be that in a few years, he'll develop his own political identity, but for now he's "joe's son". I don't think that's where the Dems want their party to go.

by the mollusk 2010-01-25 11:33AM | 0 recs

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RE: I don't know

I think both parties are going to continue running family members and other legacy appointees wherever they feel it is advantageous. This is just one race where the strongest candidate has bowed out, it doesn't represent some kind of new trend of Democratic opposition to legacy candidates. In other words I see no silver lining.

by Steve M 2010-01-25 01:37PM | 0 recs

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RE: I don't know

Dynasties exist in both parties... Bush, Kennedy, Romney, Bayh, etc. They will always be there and always exist.

by FUJA 2010-01-25 05:44PM | 0 recs

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that puts deleware in likely takeover territory...

when republicans start doing well in the northeast, we're really in trouble...

by bored now 2010-01-25 11:35AM | 0 recs

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RE: that puts deleware in likely takeover territory...

They have been doing well here for years (Snowe, Collins).

by NoFortunateSon 2010-01-25 12:42PM | 0 recs

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if a stronger senator had been appointed

Castle might have been scared off from running. Naming Kaufman guaranteed that Castle would have a shot at an open seat.

by desmoinesdem 2010-01-25 11:53AM | 0 recs

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Yet more unforced errors :(

Is it possible to sue for political malpractice?

by Caffinated 2010-01-25 12:47PM | 0 recs

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And I was so looking forward

to all the 'legacy' and 'dynasty' attacks on Biden, who would almost certainly have failed to take on te credit card companies....

Drat.

by QTG 2010-01-25 12:58PM | 1 recs

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RE: And I was so looking forward

In hindsight, nomination of Biden to VP and Salazar to the Interior are two of the biggest blunders President Obama made. Had he not nominated them, these seats would have most likely been in Dem hands. Of course, no one would have thought that the governors would be this dumb. Why Ritter could not nominate Degette or Hickenlooper to the Senate is beyond me. Let us hope Illinois holds..otherwise, it could well be Mictch McConnell the Senate Majority Leader and Bill "the racist" Sessions as the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary committee. Let us also hope that two selfish justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and John Paul Stevens quit this year...if they want their legacy continued...obviously so far, it seems that Ginsburg is nore interested in preserving herself than in preserving her legacy.

by Boilermaker 2010-01-25 01:52PM | 0 recs

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PPP Feels bullish....

Tom Jensen thinks that an "outsider" candidate could blast Castle as a Washington insider and pull another Scott Brown. The dEmcoratic bench is deep in Delaware... who's willing to take up the challenge is the question?

by LordMike 2010-01-25 02:26PM | 0 recs

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If we assume

for the moment that this seat is likely to go Rrepublican, I count 5 likely GOP seats right now:

North Dakota

Colorado

Nevada

Deleware

Arkansas

That would mean the Senate would be 54-46. The GOP would need to win 4 other seats, and hope that holy Joe jumps. I count a number of seats that might be competitive which includes

Illinois

California

Washington

Penn.

The Senate is at this point in play. The central question is whether the developing wave is anti-partisan or anti-Democratic. There is significant evidence for the former, which might enable Democrats to pick up a seat like North Carolina.

If the economy turns, then all of this will change rapidly. But the median year end forecast for unemployment is 9.7%. This would mean unemployment would have hovered near 10% for over a year - something that has not happened since the Great Depression.

My guess is right now we will lose the Senate unless the economy recovers.

by fladem 2010-01-25 03:26PM | 0 recs