In the last couple days, there have been several posts across the blogosphere citing what various candidates running for Congress have said on FISA and retroactive immunity for the telecoms.  But so far, it's been all over the map.  I'll try to corral all their statements into this diary, so you can see who the "good guys" are.

First, let's start off with the current House and Senate members who voted against this bill.  They do deserve credit, as it's their jobs on the line.

Follow me below the fold to see the dozens of Democratic challengers who are standing up for the Constitution, and are against this FISA bill and retroactive immunity.

There's more...

Per Chris Cillizza, Rep. Jim Saxton, who represents NJ-03 (PVI of D+3) and was widely expected to retire after his current term, may announce as soon as today that he won't seek re-election to the House.

Rep. Jim Saxton, the twelve-term Republican from New Jersey's 3rd District, plans to retire after his current term, an announcement that could come as early as today, according to sources familiar with his decision.

Saxton's retirement opens up a seat he has held since 1984 and creates another vulnerable open seat for House Republicans. President Bush narrowly carried the district with 51 percent in 2004, and Democrats had been making noise about a potential challenge to Saxton in 2008.

Charlie Cook has featured this race in his House Competitive Race Chart but labeled it as "Likely Republican." Expect that to change to "Toss-up" or even "Lean Dem" now that it's an open seat. Swing State Project says NJ state senator John Adler is our man for the job.

The second retirement that was leaked today is that of Rep. Barbara Cubin who's held Wyoming's At-Large seat since 1994.

From Roll Call:

Rep. Barbara Cubin (R-Wyo.) is expected to announce her retirement on Saturday at a meeting of the state GOP central committee in Casper, a Republican source said Friday afternoon. [...]

Cubin, long rumored to be retiring from her Republican-leaning at-large House seat upon the conclusion of her current term, has been absent from Capitol Hill for much of the year to tend to her
hospitalized husband in Wyoming.

While not surprising, Cubin's retirement, unlike that of Saxton, is bad news for Democrats. Our returning challenger to the seat, netroots all star Gary Trauner, had come just 1,000 votes shy in 2006 against Cubin in this R+19 PVI state and by far his best chance to win the seat would have been a rematch in 2008. Best not to underestimate Trauner though. The GOP primary promises to be a brutal one, with three challengers having already announced, almost 48% of the state has already voted for Trauner and mcjoan calls him

the most amazing door-to-door campaigner I have ever seen.

These two retirements make it 16 open seats for the GOP to defend next year, while Democrats only have 3.

There's more...

As Jonathan linked in the open thread earlier, Rep. Barbara Cubin's 2006 Democratic challenger and netroots all star Gary Trauner had scheduled an announcement today although to announce what was unclear -- would he run for one of the senate seats (both of which are up in '08,) the house seat he almost won last year, or run for nothing at all? I have to say, having been extremely impressed with his appearances on a couple of panels at YearlyKos this summer, I'm thrilled to see that he's opted for another run for Wyoming's At Large congressional seat.

New West Politics was at his announcement and relates (via mcjoan) what led him to decide to run again:

"I had gone to the grocery store when I heard my name called," Trauner said. A gentleman having coffee in the grocery store pointed to a newspaper and asked Trauner if he'd read about the growing controversy over expanding the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), which Congress had approved, President Bush had vetoed and had that veto sustained by a Republican minority.

Trauner said the gentleman having coffee was upset with the partisan politics, and said "I've been a Republican all my life, but don't we deserve something better?"

Trauner, after long discussions with his wife, decided the answer was "Yes."

You may remember this race as one of the true heartbreakers from last year. In Wyoming, where only about 25% of voters are registered Democrats and where John Kerry only won 29% of the vote in 2004 (Cook gives it a PVI of R+19,) Gary Trauner came within 1,012 votes of winning Dick Cheney's old seat. How'd he do it?

He distinguished himself through his approach to campaigning, going door-to-door across Wyoming to 15,000 homes--a style that was in marked contrast to Cubin's campaign style. Cubin once famously said she'd "rather eat roadkill" than go door-to-door.

Clearly, Trauner's best shot at this seat would be in a re-match against Cubin, although that is currently up in the air. As of now, Cook's Competitive House Chart lists the seat as merely "Lean Republican" but also lists Cubin as a potential retirement and with a serious primary challenge.

mcjoan elaborates:

Cubin has said that she's running again, but hasn't filed yet. She could be waiting to see if State Rep. Colin Simpson (former Sen. Alan Simpson's son) decides to join Swede Nelson of Cheyenne and Kenn Gilchrist of Casper in challenging her in the primary...but there's been some talk in the national party of trying to convince Cubin to retire.

Great to see Gary giving this race another run and giving Wyoming a chance to finish what they started in 2006.

There's more...

According to the AP:

Under state law, Trauner must ask for a recount no later than Friday. The recount would be conducted in all 23 counties, and Trauner would have to pay up to $500 per county for the cost of the recount. He would not be liable for the costs if the recount found "sufficient error to change the result of the election."

The State Canvassing Board, made up of four of Wyoming's top elected officials, certified the results Wednesday. While the race remained very close, it fell 79 votes short of triggering an automatic recount, Secretary of State Joe Meyer said.

There's more...

As we celebrate our victories these days, I found it difficult at the same time not to feel a little mournful for all of the great candidates we found to contest races all over the country who lost their races.  Over the last few months, I've come to have a lot of loyalty and emotion invested in them, and it's hard not to feel a little down for all of those who lost.

Then I realized that was a ridiculous and defeatist outlook to take.  These courageous men and women, even if they are not now headed to Congress, are just as much part of the 50-state strategy team as those who won.  People like Joe Courtney or Patrick Murphy wouldn't have won their close races without their help, and unexpected victors like Nancy Boyda and Harry Mitchell probably wouldn't have had a chance if the Republican machine hadn't already been stretched to the breaking point.

There's more...