Thought that John McCain was an Arizona institution who, like Barry Goldwater before him, could not be hurt in his home state by a disastrously embarrassing and unfruitful presidential bid? Think again. Check out these new numbers pitting him against a potential 2010 Democratic challenger.
Gov. Janet Napolitano would beat Sen. John McCain if the two went head-to-head in an election, according to a new poll.The Rocky Mountain Poll of 629 voters across the state also finds the Democratic governor is the most popular statewide elected official. She was ranked as doing an excellent or good job by 59 percent of those asked, and only nine percent gave her a poor or very poor rating. That's the lowest negative rating for Napolitano since she took office in 2003.
The poll found that 76 percent of Democrats think she's doing an excellent or good job, while 51 percent of independents and 41 percent of Republicans give her that ranking.
In a hypothetical head-to-head race for McCain's Senate seat, 47 percent of those polled would vote for Napolitano, 36 percent for the sitting Republican senator, and 17 percent were undecided.
If she so chooses, Napolitano could well be one of a whole slate of red state Democratic Governors running for the United States Senate in 2010, potentially helping the Democrats reach the mythical (at least in the last three decades or so) mark of a 60-seat majority in the chamber. Other names considered for 2010 bids include Kansas' popular Democratic Governor Kathleen Sebelius, who could potentially run for an open seat (Sam Brownback has indicated that he might retire in 2010), which would give the Democrats their first win in a Senate election in the state since 1932; and Oklahoma, where Democratic Governor Brad Henry (who won reelection over a GOP Congressman last year by a 2-to-1 margin) could conceivably defeat the, um, eccentric and unnecessarily petty freshman Republican Senator Tom Coburn.
It's not yet clear that this is something that Napolitano wants. But if she does at all, she certainly seems to at least have a path, however difficult, to victory in a Senate bid against McCain in 2010 (assuming he decides to run again).
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