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Sen. Daniel Akaka of Hawaii retires – makes it 12

By: Dan Spencer (Diary)  |  March 3rd, 2011 at 10:34 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

Hawaii’s U.S. Senator Daniel K. Akaka will not run for reelection in 2012.

Akaka’s retirement brings to 12 the number of members of the 112th Congress — 5 Senate and 2 House Democrats and 2 Senate and 3 House Republicans that have announced plans to leave Congress on or before the January 3, 2013 end of the 112th Congress:

SENATE

Democrats

  1. Daniel Akaka (HI) Retiring
  2. Jeff Bingaman (NM) Retiring
  3. Kent Conrad (ND) Retiring
  4. Joe Lieberman (Independent Democrat – CT) Retiring
  5. Jim Webb (VA) Retiring

Republicans

  1. Kay Bailey Hutchison (TX) Retiring
  2. Jon Kyl (AZ) Retiring

HOUSE

Democrats

  1. Jane Harman (CA) Resigning
  2. Christopher Murphy (CT) Running for Senate

Republicans

  1. Jeff Flake (AZ) Running for Senate
  2. Chris Lee (NY) Resigned
  3. Denny Rehberg (MT) Running for Senate

Democrats must defend 21 of the 33 Senate seats in up for election in 2012. Counting the two so-called Independents who caucus with the Democrats, Akaka’s departure means five of those seats will be up for grabs without a Democrat incumbent.

The Democrats’ 53-47 Senate majority is looking more and more precarious.

From Right Side Politics’ 112th Congress critter departure watch.

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COMMENTS

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  • Wubbies World
  • Raven

    A little disappointed, too. He’s about the only Dem I trust. I don’t agree with him, but he does have principles.

    • acat
      • podkayne3000

        there’s a chance Obamacare repeal, or partial repeal, could actually get through the Senate?

        Maybe repeal of the individual ownership mandate could survive a veto.

        • Raven

          Partial repeal will crash the entire system and give the Dems what they want.

        • acat

          Keep in mind the other person up in 2012 is Obama himself….

          If we have a new President, new Senate, and can keep the GOP majority in the House, the only reason for a partial repeal is if the newly elected are suffering from Cantor’s Syndrome*.

          If we stay on task, there’s no reason a partial repeal should be needed… and certainly no reason it should be applauded.

          Mew

          * a severe form of cranio-rectal inversion found only in the GOP, where their ears are crammed so full of crap they can’t hear the electorate…

        • thurman

          We can repeal it with reconciliation

          We should have an easy majority in the Senate in 2012, although getting to 60 will be tough

          The problem with undoing Obamacare or any of the other dozens of destructive things Obama has done to us all pivots on taking back the Presidency, period

          We can have all the wave elections we want and win a hundred other state and national congressional seats, but unless we replace Obama nothing gets by his veto.

          Not to mention 2-3 more SCOTUS appointments– that could change the complexion of the Supreme Court for a generation

          That’s why all the infighting about purity frightens me right now– if we’re not 100% behind whoever it is that wins the nomination, no matter how many issues we may have, we’ve lost this country for a generation with another 4 years of Obama.

          • Raven

            We win by overturning the veto.
            Obama can stay there if we win that big.

          • podkayne3000

            can get a two-thirds majority?

  • Darin_H

    That’s great news that he’s taking on Tester, he should be able to flip that seat back to us. Any MT’ers have info on someone to take Rehberg’s place in the house?

  • Castor

    But I don?t know who can do the job to replace Lieberman. Simmons maybe? Or can Jodi Rell be coaxed out of retirement.
    None of these are among my favorite Republicans, but one hell of a lot better than the donkeyhead who would run against them.

    • http://theminorityreportblog.com Repair_Man_Jack

      He may be too RINO/Squish for some, but we are talking CT here. The next Marco Rubio would struggle with that particular electorate.

      • Castor

        I was thinking of domestic politics

      • IJB

        There’s no point in running someone in CT who doesn’t have lots of campaign $$$ to spend.

        • proudgop

          I have feeling Linda is running again and she just is never gonna win. Her negatives are way too high and many elderly voters just never liked her wrestling past

      • victrola

        For deep blue states in New England, it’s either a Scott Brown Republican or a left-wing Democrat, take your pick.

        We tried the O’Donnell approach, now a self-proclaimed Marxist has a seat for life in Delaware.

        I’d rather have a Republican that votes with me 80% of the time than a Democrat that votes against me 100% of the time.

        If Simmons wants it, he’s probably our only shot. I’d hold my nose and vote for him to deny one more Senate seat to Democrats.

        • acat

          She wasn’t the best vetted candidate.
          She was further to the right than the establishment pick, Castle.
          I don’t see Castle being with us 80% of the time..,. more like 60%… and demanding pork and other payoffs for each and every vote.

          Mew

          • victrola

            I completely understand not being happy with Castle, and I would be lying if I said I didn’t take some satisfaction in him getting beat, but there are real consequences to having a “kamikaze” style approach to primaries.

            If there was a legitimate contender that has been tested by voters that can actually win, I’m all for it, but there’s a group of people that thinks the only real battle is taking out moderate Republicans in liberal states. They don’t even care about the general election where the real consequences of elections actually takes place.

            To form a governing coalition, you need moderates from blue states. I would love it we didn’t need them, but we do. I’m really glad Scott Brown represents Massachusetts instead of Martha Coakley. If we had 60 Senators like Jim DeMint, I would say screw the Scott Browns of the Republican party, but right now we don’t even have a majority and Harry Reid is calling the shots.

          • acat
        • thurman

          We can fight our purity battles and nitpick in the rest of the country

          I am in the minority here, but agree with 100% of your post

  • acat

    That, to me, is the key lesson from 2010 – the establishment/tea party split often left us with a candidate who looked good in the primary, but did not perform in the general.

    This must be addressed going into 2012. The good news is that the republicans retiring from the Senate seem to be of the stool-missing-legs variety, and I’m not particularly worried about replacing them with more three-legged folk.

    The better news is .. it’s early 2011. We’ve got time – if we start soon – to pick *good* candidates.

    Mew

    • http://908StraightSt.wordpress.com/ mbecker908

      But, honestly, in Delaware CO’D was a pretty well known quantity and was very well known among the Republican leadership who jumped ship after she won the primary.

      She ran, with the support of the State Party Leadership, in 08 against Biden. She got the nomination at the state convention and had their support all the way to the sacrificial alter where Biden slaughtered her. I don’t think she made a fool of herself in that election, she was running against “Mr.Delaware” and I doubt anybody could have done more.

      The problem was, I’m guessing, that even though she was pretty well known statewide, nobody had spent enough time around her to figure out if she actually knew anything. And boom.

  • Kyle-MI

    I think we have a good chance of picking off the seats held by Webb and Conrad, replacing them with strong conservatives. It would be nice to get the other three Senate seats, but as blue of states as they are, I am not expecting much from whomever wins there. With two very good conservatives running in the primary, there is also a good chance to upgrade the TX Senate seat. At least for AZ, we will maintain the level of conservatism and maybe even improve it slightly.

    In addition there are plenty of redstate Dem Senators available for picking off including the MT seat and the NE seat. 2012 should be a target rich environment. (In the strictly nonviolent sense of the word.)

    • acat

      “Someone who agrees with me 80% of the time is not an enemy” ? Something like that, anyway…

      Goes hand-in-glove with whats-his-names’ rule – support the most conservative candidate who can win.

      In short, purity matters to the point where it jeopardizes electability, and no further. I’ll take a Mark Kirk (R-ish, social-squish, IL) over a Roland Burris (D-ijit, IL) or a Dick Durbin (D-evil, IL) any day.

      Mew

      • Kyle-MI

        but we also need to keep in mind the entire terrain. As I am sure you appreciate, we need to prioritize candidates to get the biggest (conservative) bang for our buck. I would rather we put more money in picking up the NE seat with a solid conservative then aiming for an open HI seat with a more liberal Republican.

        • thurman

          nt

          • regent2009

            I am no so naive to expect a Republican in commie Mass to ignore the realities of his electorate and run as a true conservative. If the seat may be the difference between a majority or not, I am fine with supporting a RINO like Brown, and directing financial resources to him. But if that seat is not pivotal, then we are better off running a true conservative. Sure, in the short-run, it means a certain loss. But in the long run, having that voice heard is important. Even in a deep blue state like Mass, 40% of voters lean Republican. We need to win the war of ideas for just 10% more.

  • america1st

    She needs to be primaried and replaced with Republican.

    • conservativemusician

      Whoever the replacement Republican is will still give us heartburn just like Snowe, I’m afraid. It is going to be difficult to find any Republican in Maine that will be palatable to most of us who post here, but I agree that it would be worth the effort to test the waters on getting her out of there. She really is a Dem at heart and is entirely unreliable at crunch time.

      • victrola

        Olympia Snowe voted against ObamaCare, and voted FOR repeal. She also voted for Roberts and Alito on the Supreme Court, and for the Bush tax cuts.

        Is she a “DeMint” Republican? No. Is Maine South Carolina? No

        She has no doubt crossed us, but it’s usually on small issues, and she’s MUCH better than the most moderate Democrat in the Senate. Figures like Lieberman get all sorts of praise, yet Snowe’s voting record is FAR to the right of Liebermans.

        I think we’d be much smarter putting our resources and efforts into knocking off Lugar in the primary where we have a real candidate that can win the general election in a conservative state than wasting our time in Maine and handing a Senate seat to Democrats on a silver platter.

        • acat

          Of course, I’ll take Mark Kirk (R-ish, IL) over Snowe, but ..

          This is why the rule is “The most conservative candidate who can win the election”.

          Or, if you prefer, candidate purity matters until it interferes with electability.

          Mew

        • conservativemusician

          It will be interesting to see how Maine voters will judge her during their primary. Is she up for re-election next year?

    • http://908StraightSt.wordpress.com/ mbecker908

      of a candidate in Maine who is better than Snowe?

  • http://jhpruitt.blogtownhall.com/ kipling

    It would be a great day if we could add Sen. Lugar to the list.

    • IJB

      Bank on it.

      • Finrod

        .

        • jcrestonm

          I’ve got a check waitin on someone to announce he is running against Lugar. That man is too out of touch with the realities fighting this country. If you look at his voting records he is very similar to his longtime companion in the Senate, Evan Bayh. I think his latest ACU rating was 71% . If I remember right it has been alot lower than that in the past

          • nvrepub

            not split our primary vote amongst several tea party candidates. Pick ONE proven, reliable, consistent, electable conservative and rally around him/her.

            Same with presidential race: I want conservative AND electable.

          • acat

            infests the early GOP “open” primaries.

            Conservatives are going to need to come together behind one candidate *before* Iowa….

            Mew

    • victrola

      My fear is the scenario that happened in Alaska. Every Senator will now think they can wage a write-in campaign, and at the very least destroy the Republican that beat them in the primary.

      • earlgrey

        I’d be pleasantly surprised if they did boot him, but I just don’t see that. My mom keeps reminding me how uninformed the typical IN voter is.

      • thurman

        No more Crists, Murkowskis, or Doug Hoffmans. Yes I said it, Doug Hoffman cost us NY23 in 2010 when he lost a legitimate primary. Sore loser.

        Remember, a lot of states actually have “sore loser” laws where you can’t run as an Independent if you lose a primary– I think the congressional committees should squash this type of behavior and force pledges, but I’m not holding my breath.

        I think we won’t make the mistake and split the vote in IN-SEN, it seems like Mourdock has made it a point to lock up support early in his primary challenge to Lugar so as not to split the vote

        I worry about TX-SEN’s primary, there are plenty of solid men who might split the vote and allow a squish like Dewherst to buy his victory

        Hopefully we’ll be smarter about primaries across the board next time

        • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

          If a sore loser goes independent, then any party discipline we might have used obviously won’t work.

        • Finrod

          Scozzfava was SELECTED by the local GOP in an epic fail maneuver. There was no primary.

  • Hiloconservative

    It will be tough to take this seat away from the RATS given the political lean of this state and with Barry running for re-election. However, Linda Lingle would be a formidable candidate, who will raise lots of money and force the bad guys to expend significant resources in a state they can usually take for granted.
    She may also look a lot better a year from now given the disastrous job that
    Governor Blabbercrombie is doing as her successor. But even if she doesn’t win, it could at least prevent the RATS from giving their candidates maximum support in close races where that lack of support could cause those candidates to come up short.

    • proudgop

      Politico is reporting Fmr Congresswoman Heather Wilson will announce her run on Monday for Open NM seat

      Ohio

      who is gonna run against Liberal Commie Brown. He called up basically Nazis today

    • meghan

      Basically Inouye made the decision for Akaka to retire, thinking that he would not ride out his term giving AberCommie the power to replace him. Good decision on Akaka;s part…knuckle-slap for Inouye.

      Linda Lingle inherited a $250M deficit, turned that into a $730M surplus, then the economy sank. She is looking good right now in the wake of Neils “I Am the Governor” disastrous first two months.

      Steve Case under Obama’s wing now, so Dan will run again. Hanabusa hates Congress, they ignore her bully rants, so she will run also..Inouye will annoint her.one more time.

      It will indeed be the circus of the century…I for one will never vote absentee again…

  • gawken

    Forget the talk about the GOP taking back the Senate. It’s a given. The real question, if everything breaks right, is.. could the GOP end up with a filibuster proof majority..IOW..hit the 60 seat threshhold? And it’s possible.

    Which means, as the campaign season continues, we’ll see a lot more Dems retiring, even those that have currently said they were running. Both Nelsons (NE, and FL), and Kohl, (WI) come to mind.

    Look, they all face difficult, marginal campaigns. More than a year on the eternal campaign trail, endless fund-raising, and all with Obama atop the ticket. And if you win, what do you get…

    The opportunity to spend the last 6 years of your Senate career in the MINORITY? So why do it…And with the GOP firmly in control of the House, and possibly even a Republican in the WH, you will be subjected to endless demands and pressures from the hard-core LEFT base of the Dem party.

    Nope.. retire, go out on top.