ON THE PROWL
Governor George Former Virginia senator and governor George Allen is looking for a political comeback, but not in the Senate, even though his former colleague, Sen. John Warner,...
...We're realistic about his chances, and most likely the Democrat nominee gets our support in 2008, so Hillary gets a second bite at the apple...
...Larry Craig...
...Keystone Comeback Another former senator is also looking for a run at redemption...
...John Ensign, current chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, who has the thankless job this election cycle of recruiting GOP Senate candidates and fundraising, is having a tough go of it, but is earning high marks for his efforts...
...We'd heard the rumors and started calling around to confirm," says a campaign consultant...
...Insiders say Ensign walked into a senatorial committee demoralized by the woeful leadership of Sen...
...But Warner's exit was considered a foregone conclusion by many, given the financial and political onslaught Warner witnessed by the far left against Allen in 2006...
...Dodd's people worked it pretty hard...
...John isn't a go-along to getalong kind of guy," says a Washington lobbyist who has been helping Ensign raise moneyfor the committee...
...One area that is not garnering much in the way of negative research is Romney's time as head of Bain Capital, a large venture capital firm...
...Rick Santorumissaidbyclose advisers to be contemplating a run for Pennsylvania governor...
...But Romney, while he never raised income taxes on Massachusetts residents, did create 33 new fees for Bay State citizens and increased 57 others, which amounted to a $59 million tax increase...
...The Clinton people acted like it was a done deal with us and really didn't do a hell of a lot to 1 6 T H E A M E R I C A N S P E C T A T O R O C T O B E R 2 0 0 7 O NT H EP R O W L earn it...
...In a tough environment for Republicans, Ensign has not walked away from the Bush administration, and has been pushing conservative ideas and seeking conservative candidates...
...If she hits at us, we're going to hit back...
...The 49-year-old junior senator has raised a little over $15 million this year, and now must add another Senate seat to his list of defenses with the resignation of Sen...
...Santorum, whose base is in the western part of the Keystone State, has begun raising his profile both in Washington and in Pennsylvania, where he was scheduled to make an appearance at a state political fundraiser for the Lancaster Country GOP...
...Defense Buildup Sen...
...Rick is a politician...
...Hillary Rodham Clinton'scampaign finance scandal when it was revealed that Rendell had accepted almost $40,000 from California grand theft fugitive Norman Hsu in 2005 and 2006...
...This was a way to repay Dodd for years of support," says the official...
...We're going back and taking apart everything we can find on her during the Clinton administration and her first run for the Senate," says an Obama staffer in Chicago...
...These "revenue enhancers" will be part of the opposition research dropped on Romney in the fall, particularly as the GOP nomination race changes with former Sen...
...Santorum advisers were spinning the appearance as "payback" for the county operation's efforts for him in 2006, but other Santorum insiders say folks shouldn't be fooled...
...Hillary Rodham Clinton, and his staff is getting ready by turning to an unlikely research pool: conservative media and Republican congressional research materials...
...Romney was seriously injured in the accident, as well...
...He's getting back in and he's young enough that a gubernatorial run would set him up for greater opportunities politically down the road," says one adviser...
...Fred Thompson,islookingatrunning for Virginia governor again in 2009...
...He loves the com-petition and the process of running...
...He's clean, a great firm, and lots of big successes," says the Giuliani staffer...
...That, and it just has the whiff of John Kerry'stimeoverthereas a young man...
...Warner led with a slow left hook in August that he was retiring when he so publicly challenged the White House on troop withdrawals and Iraq policy...
...Hillary Rodham Clinton's staff was shocked by the decision of the International Association of Fire Fighters union to endorse Sen...
...Ed Rendell, who was re-elected in 2006, and is term-limited, has had a rough early term, and Democrats in the statehouse are growing uneasy...
...Rendell declined to divest his campaign of the money, saying he didn't want to "pile on...
...O NT H EP R O W L O C T O B E R 2 0 0 7 T H E A M E R I C A N S P E C T A T O R 1 7...
...Elizabeth Dole in the 2006 election cycle...
...John Warner, has announced his retirement...
...Ensign, though, is being talked of as a potential future leader of the Senate GOP caucus, particularly if he can turn around a listing Senate fundraising ship...
...Allen, who is expected to play an influential role in the presidential campaign of former Sen...
...Also to be recycled: a look at the time Romney spent in France on his Mormon mission back in the late 1960s, when he traveled the country and was involved in a tragic car accident that killed a passenger in the car Romney was driving...
...But IAFF officials say that the endorsement went Dodd's way for two reasons, the first of which would indicate problems for the Clinton campaign: "They didn't work for it hard enough, plain and simple," says a New York-based IAFF official...
...Clinton political operatives in New York had assured Clinton's senior campaign staff that the endorsement was "locked in," according to campaign insiders...
...Mitt Romneyhasbeenhittinghardon the conservative themes, particularly social conservative themes, on the campaign trail...
...Dodd, though, isn't expected to survive far into the fall, and that was the second reason, according to the IAFF...
...That seat will be an open competition in 2010.Current Gov...
...The accident is well documented, but not a whole lot more is known about Romney's time in France," says the Giuliani staffer...
...Everyone is going to try to knock out Thompson early, Thompson will be punching back at us and Romney, everything gets recycled...
...Sound the Alarm Sen...
...It's the position from which he built his most solid conservative credentials...
...It was just mind-boggling that Hillary wouldn't get the nod given what she did for first responders after 9/11...
...According to Clinton campaign staff, word went out almost immediately after the endorsement for so-called "political outreach" to be ramped up to outside labor and other special interest groups mulling endorsements...
...Romney Update Former Massachusetts Gov...
...Fred Thompson in the field...
...According to campaign insiders, he also plans to continue hitting on economic and tax policy issues into the fall as he attempts to build his conservative name ID across the country...
...Barack Obama is anticipating a lot of aggressive attacks from the campaign of Sen...
...Rendell, a former mayor of Philadelphia, was recently caught up in Sen...
...All of the House hearings on the Clintons are being gone through, the cattle futures, everything...
...When the field changes like that, with a new top tier candidate, all the oppo and aggressive research starts getting spread out all over again," says a staffer on the Giuliani campaign...
...Junior Grade Nevada Sen...
...Christopher Dodd for president...
Vol. 40 • October 2007 • No. 8
