(originally wrote this before Jonathan posted on the front page..)

Chris Cillizza at the Washington Post is reporting that Pete Domenici (R-NM) will announce tomorrow that he not running for reelection.

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/20 07/10/sen_pete_domenici_expected_to.html ?nav=rss_blog

Things just keep getting worse for the RSCC, don't they?

Bill Richardson would be our strongest candidate, but I doubt he'd jump in early -- but if he doesn't do well in the early contests, maybe it wouldn't be too late for him to enter.

In the meantime, there is bound to be a lot of jockeying with candidates... another great Democratic pick-up opportunity (and maybe Wilson and/or Pearce will jump in and open up one or two house seats as well!)

September was a great month for Senate Democrats. Is started with news that John Warner was retiring, featured the endless saga of Larry Craig's guilty plea to lewd behavior, saw another crucial GOP seat open up in Nebraska and was marked with recruitment coups with the candidacies of Mark Warner in VA and Jeanne Shaheen in NH. In fact, the only bad news Democrats are fearing now is that Bob Kerrey might end up taking a pass in Nebraska -- but even there, the fat lady hasn't yet sung.

All of this is really icing on the cake for Democrats, who already felt great before Labor Day. Not only is the GOP is defending 22 seats, and the Dems only 12, but the NRSC has been doing poorly in fundraising and recruitment, failing to move to target states beyond... the one state of Louisiana. Democrats, on the other hand, are expanding the map left and right: While they are huge underdogs in TN, KY, NM, TX, and ID, odds are they will at least put one of those in play (just like VA in 2006 and KY in 2004 became competitive only in the last stretch). And the most problematic second-tier seat is turning to be Alaska, where incumbent Ted Stevens is facing significant bribery allegations.

The coming weeks are likely to bring more news that will determine how some of these races shape up. Bob Kerrey's decision is obviously what everyone is waiting for, but there are other important questions: Will Craig retire as he had promised? Will there be more open seats, with all eyes turned towards SD's Tim Johnson, AK's Stevens, and NM's Pete Domenici? Will Democrats find candidates to run against Dole in NC, Domenici in NM, Stevens in AK, McConnell in KY? All of these races could end up on the map, but Democrats have to succeed in their recruitment efforts first.

The first 4 states are listed after the jump. For the full rankings, go here, to CampaignDiaries.com.

Right now, Senators are debating an amendment to the Senate's energy legislation offered by Pete Domenici (R-NM).  If agreed to, it will require the federal government to subsidize obsolete technologies like dams and nuclear power. That isn't a step toward the future, it's replaying the mistakes of the past.

Senator Domenici's backward-looking amendment is wildly mislabeled as the "Clean Portfolio Standard."  While its stated goal of requiring 20 percent of American energy production to come from renewable energy sources is laudable, the means by which Senator Domenici proposes we reach this goal are dangerous.

If passed, his amendment would make it far easier for nuclear power plants to spring up all across the country.  Under Domenici's plan, new nuclear plants would be classified as renewable energy and subsidized by taxpayers.  Like the amendment's support for dam building (an obsolete technology if there ever was one) subsidies make no sense for nuclear, an industry that was the new kid on the block more than 50 years ago.