Slim GOP hopes of capturing the Senate now gone?

[Skjellyfetti]

Yesterday Pataki announced that he would not be running for the NY Senate seat:

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, former governor George Pataki has announced he will not attempt to unseat U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand this fall.

Pataki said he instead will focus on an organization called “Revere America,” which will launch a grassroots petition campaign this week to repeal and reform recently passed healthcare reform.

Pataki did not rule out a run for the White House in 2012

http://www.13wham.com/news/local/story/ ... ZdnVw.cspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And today Tommy Thompson announced the same:

Former Governor Tommy Thompson announced at a Tea Party rally today that he will not run for Senate in Wisconsin.

Thompson said his family convinced him not to run, according to the Associated Press, but that the decision was not easy.

The AP reports that Thompson nearly changed his mind when a crowd chanted a call for him to run but decided not to when he saw his son and daughter shaking their heads no.

Thompson, a Republican, would likely have gone up against Sen. Russ Feingold in the general election, and Republicans saw the race as a strong opportunity to flip the seat to their side of the aisle. That becomes far less likely without Thompson in the race.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162- ... 03544.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Both are probably going to try to run in 2012... but, it's hard to imagine the GOP taking the Senate without either of these guys running.

[GannonFan]

Not sure it even matters - as long as the GOP has the filibuster the Senate is basically neutral ground. Can't ram anything really unpopular through and the ones who will side with the Dems (Brown, Snowe, etc) aren't going to cave to anything crazy. The real race of interest is in the House as the Dems would lose a pretty significant mouthpiece if they lose leadership there.