Today Bob Kerrey announced he will not seek the Nebraska U.S. Senate seat that is up for grabs in 2008. This is good news for former secretary of agriculture Mike Johanns, an early favorite to replace retiring U.S. senator and antiwar Republican Chuck Hagel. Meanwhile, according to the Evans-Novak Political Report, Democratic state representative Grier Mier, an Iraq war veteran, says he won’t challenge Senator Elizabeth Dole next year in North Carolina. Martin is only the most recent in a series of Democrats, including Governor Mike Easley, who have passed on the chance to challenge Dole. And in Texas, where U.S. Senator John Cornyn appeared slightly vulnerable in recent months, Cornyn’s opponent Mikal Watts has quit the race. Watts was Cornyn’s strongest challenger. Now he’s gone. Add all this to the news that the antiwar campaign against Mitch McConnell seems to have stalled in Kentucky, and you get the sense that 2008 may not turn out to be the Republican wipeout that so animates Democratic imaginations.
