I’m not much for country songs, but this one seems to be pretty good.

Part of the reason for both of those things is what hangs in the balance. If the Republican candidate wins, he would be the pivotal 41st vote that could throw the cog in the gears of the health care reform bill. There’s a third party (Libertarian) candidate, who doesn’t really stand a chance, but I think he would caucus with the GOP as far as the health care bill would go. Either of these candidates could end the bill’s run. Not to mention that the district has been a Liberal hot spot for centuries. And, despite that, all the polling leading up to the vote indicate that the Republican has a better than good chance of coming out on top.

So many conservatives are rallying to the side of their candidate. There have been tons of money flowing in from around the country on both sides of the line.

But, where were all of those people in 2008? There’s been a huge awakening in this country and we’ve seen an influx of new blood, so to speak. If even half of those people had been active in the last election, perhaps we wouldn’t need to be going to the extremes that we are now.

An excellent reason to stay active as best you can. What better incentive than loss of liberty.

I like it.

I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that part of it is that he’s been a senator for 30 years. But, when I look at that, I have a hard time not thinking that he saw a hard race coming and just felt like he was just too old for the battle. And it would be a hard battle. And likely a losing battle at that. Even without Hoeven having publicly announced his candidacy, he was polling with a 10-20 point lead over Dorgan.

Dorgan hasn’t exactly endeared himself to the conservative base of North Dakota. Yes, he’s a Democrat, but he represents a largely conservative state. It’s a funny state though. It votes conservatively for President, and usually for Governor as well. The state house and senate usually run conservative as well. But, all of it’s U.S. representation has been Democrat for decades. So, he’s had a pretty secure position for a while. But, his votes on the health care and stimulus bills have turned many of his constituents against him.

I’ve only lived in the state for a hair over a decade, but I have a very hard time not celebrating his departure. Good bye Senator Dorgan. I’m not going to miss you.

There’s some speculation that she’s doing this in order to focus on a run for the Presidential nomination in 2012, but I’m not so sure that all jives. I think it’s more likely that she will take a little time to get out of the spotlight, regroup, and then push towards a much more public speaking life. She mentioned that she felt that she’s done so much traveling the country and speaking. And maybe that is for a push for 2012, but more likely, it’s because she was getting some pressure to be the Governor instead of a spokesperson for the GOP.

Unfortunately, I don’t think that she’ll be the savior that the Republicans are looking for anyways and if she were to get the nomination, it would be a poor choice. Although, current trends continuing, she could win. I really don’t know that the “down-home country politician” is what the majority of Americans are looking for. And, while she certainly has the conservative chops, she just doesn’t have the perceived popularity to get the vote.

I guess time will tell what her path will be. She’s not very hard on the eyes, so let’s hope she doesn’t disappear altogether…