Two big topics of discussion that arose yesterday: Michigan and Arizona both delivered victories to GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney over his opponents. Romney swept Arizona with 47 percent of the vote compared to 27 percent for Rick Santorum. In Michigan, things were much closer with the former governor taking the state 41 to 38 percent. Romney scored his Michigan win despite slightly higher than normal participation from Democrats who crossed over to vote for Santorum, a point of contention between the two campaigns in recent days.
The other hot topic for today is the announcement from Republican senator Olympia Snowe that she will retire and rather than seek reelection in her state of Maine. Do you think this will harm the GOP's chances for taking back the Senate?
Sen. Olympia J. Snowe, Maine Republican, surprisingly announced Tuesday she won’t seek a fourth term, citing the increasingly bitter and partisan nature of Capitol Hill.
Her sudden decision, just two weeks before Maine’s candidate-filing deadline, deals a severe blow to the Republican push to take control of the Senate and gives Democrats an unanticipated shot at winning the seat.
The moderate Republican, in a statement released by her campaign, said she was confident she would have won re-election in November and that she and her husband, John McKernan Jr., are in good health.
But she added that she has grown frustrated that “an atmosphere of polarization and ‘my way or the highway’ ideologies has become pervasive in campaigns and in our governing institutions.”
“With my Spartan ancestry, I am a fighter at heart, and I am well prepared for the electoral battle, so that is not the issue,” said Mrs. Snowe, the daughter of Greek immigrants. “However, what I have had to consider is how productive an additional term would be.”
How good do you peg either party's chances at capturing the now-open seat?
