Why Not?

Filed in National by on January 11, 2010

I hope the DSCC is not unilaterally disarming in the U.S. Senate race.

Democrats ousted Delaware’s popular longtime Republican Sen. William Roth, Jr. in 2000 after his age became an issue in the race but they are leery about playing the age card against GOP challenger Rep. Mike Castle (Del.).

There is evidence that Democratic strategists believe Castle’s age, 70, could hurt him down the stretch. If he won election, he would enter the Senate, where accrued seniority determines influence, as a 71-year-old.

By the time he got one term under his belt and would be in a position to chair a subcommittee or a seat on one of the chamber’s most powerful committees, he would be 77 years old.

I think it is a legitimate question what a 71-year-old freshman Senator in the minority party hopes to accomplish. Especially since the only function of Republicans in the Senate right now is blocking legislation.

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Opinionated chemist, troublemaker, blogger on national and Delaware politics.

Comments (6)

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  1. Mike Protack says:

    The Dems are trying to support Harry “the right amount of black” Reid to worry about Delaware. Reid has, according to the spin ‘produced’ for African Americans.

    Sad to say that a liberal voting record is a record of producing anything of merit. If you check every social ill is higher in the African American community under Democrats yet they Dems still take their votes.

    As for Castle, he is going to whoop Biden very badly.

    Mike Protack

  2. A. price says:

    Every social issue? tell ya what future president, i DID check.
    Other than ending slavery (and thats when the Republicans were the liberal party) what has your party done? Mike, some republican states still allow their colleges (bob jones university) to ban interracial couples. and didn’t a Demcratic president END Jim Crowe? (yes.. and at much resistance from republicans) You really have no clue what you are talking about do you? you play right in to the CONservative narrative of “things were so much better for everyone way back when”. I DARE you to walk up to a black person who isn’t Michael Steele and tell them things are so much better for black people under “pick your civil equality up by your bootstrap” republicans. You really do make a good republican politician… you know NOTHING about actual american history.

  3. cassandra_m says:

    Protack offers a glimpse into why repubs are trying to make hay out of Reid’s comment — they deal with African Americans as a set of pathologies which is racist to its core. And they badly need to make everyone else look as badly as they do on the race baiting front. It is a core tactic of repubs. And they don’t get that even though the Bidens and the Reids may say incredibly stupid stuff, on the legislative stuff they are solid votes and solid supporters of civil rights issues important to African Americans. Repubs, not so much.

  4. cassandra_m says:

    And back to the topic here — another issue for Castle is his health. Age and health are not an unusual campaign narrative here, but I wonder if they may have some polling or focus groups that might show them that these are things that Delawareans don’t care much about with Castle.

  5. anon says:

    Of all the reasons for Reid to go, this would have to be one of the stupidest. But I’ll take it.

    Every dime the DSCC spends to defend Reid is an insult to the base.

  6. cassandra_m says:

    Reid should not go over this. And I am hoping that for all of his faults he would understand this.