December 17, 2008 06:08 AM UTC

Dick Wadhams Has Got Nothing

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• by: Colorado Pols

Obligingly, the Rocky Mountain News reports this evening:

Republican Dick Wadhams is smiling again, which must mean the look on many Democrats’ faces is one of unease.

Sen. Ken Salazar’s decision to join President-elect Barack Obama’s cabinet has opened a variety of possibilities – and potential pitfalls – for Democrats, who know it’ll be tougher to keep Salazar’s U.S. Senate seat than it was just a few days ago.

That prospect has Wadhams, the state’s party chairman, grinning – and salivating of getting the GOP back in the game after a disastrous 2008 election.

“Incumbency is a powerful weapon even for an appointed senator, but an appointed senator is going to be more vulnerable than an elected senator,” Wadhams said Tuesday…

If Ritter taps a member of Congress to take over for Salazar in the case of a vacancy, that would set off other concerns for Democrats. A special election would have to be held in that congressional district and Republicans believe they have a shot in winning in two of those districts.

The situation reminds Wadhams of 2004, when Republicans controlled both U.S. Senate seats and five of seven congressional districts…

Oh yeah, obviously: that’s why Democrats eagerly debate the merits of nearly a dozen Senate candidates while Bob Beauprez and Tom Tancredo slap-box with Marc Holtzman over who’s going to get buried by Colorado’s popular Democratic governor in 2010.

Wadhams’ argument essentially boils down to “they have nowhere to go but down,” and it’s true that the next two years have enough unknowns that you can’t get too cocky about any majority, but 2010 won’t be 2004. Republicans are a still choking on their own low-budget intrigue (thanks in considerable part to Wadhams), and Democrats have a bench deep enough to survive all the major-league callups necessary.