Great News for the GOP and the country:
Sen. Fritz Hollings of South Carolina will announce Monday that he plans to retire when his current term expires, according to several Democratic sources — a decision that offers Republicans a significant opportunity in the South in 2004.
Hollings, who was first elected to the Senate in 1966 but has been South Carolina’s senior senator only since Sen. Strom Thurmond retired in January, has scheduled a press conference at 3:30 p.m. EDT in Columbia, South Carolina, to discuss his political plans. Hollings is 81 and his current term expires in early 2005.
Don’t let the door hit you in the ass. I have no desire to act magnanimous- this guy was a petty tyrant when it came to your civil liberties and a number of other issues, and I won’t miss him one bit.
In a related note- how lucky is Lyndsey Graham- wins Thurmond’s seat and less than two years later he is the Senior Senator.
mark
And let’s not forget, it was Hollings who first flew the confederate flag over the South Carolina statehouse.
Mark Harden
Sen. Fritz Hollings (DEM- Disney)
RW
First Zell & now Fritz.
Chalk up two donk senate seats to the GOP next year.
Chris
So where’s the RIAA going to bribe now?
Fredrik Nyman
Any thoughts about who will run for the seats vacated by Fritz Hollings and Zell Miller? Are the races toss-ups at this point?
mark
Hollings’ and Miller’s seats will be won by republicans, if they don’t screw up big time. The seats are up in 2004, and there will be a heavy presidential turnout in these southern states.
But, the GOP looks like it will lose both Alaska and Illinois, so these 4 seats look to be a wash.
Ricky
Mac Collins & Johnny Isaacson are running for the senate seat on the GOP side (both are reps from the state). Right now, I’d give the edge to Isaacson, who is the typical southern Republican.
Mike the Analyst
South Carolina –
Congressman Jim DeMint looks like the GOP frontrunner in the state (and has the WH ‘seal of approval’) – I would suspect given the politics of the state that DeMint could have beaten Hollings anyway (Hollings last reelect was only 52%, and in 2004 SC would be a strong Bush state). Noone of any real consequence on the Dem bench to replace Hollings, except maybe Inez Tenenbaum, but she’s not a given to run.
Mike the Analyst
Georgia –
In addition to Isakson and Collins, another intriguing GOP candidate is Herman Cain – a conservative AfricanAmerican business man (chairman of Godfather’s Pizza). Isakson is the most moderate of the bunch, will likely be the WH favorite and will likely get the nomination.
He should beat whoever the Dem’s put up: possibly Reps. Jim Marshall, John Lewis, maybe Andrew Young. However the race I want to see is Herman Cain vs. Andrew Young.