West: Veterans in Both Parties Find Themselves Targeted

Related Content

Election Preview

• House Overview: One Year Out: Parties Prep for the Big Dance
• Top 10 Most Vulnerable: Almost All Are Democratic Freshmen
• Senate Picture Clouded by Primaries, Uncertainties
• Filing Deadlines and Primary Dates by State
• Roll Call Casualty List: Who's Leaving Congress in 2010
• The Big Picture: Color-Coded Ratings for all 435 House Districts

Regional Breakdowns

• New England: Connecticut Senate Showdown Is Hottest Ticket in Town
• Mid-Atlantic: Republicans Hope to End the Bleeding Next Year
• South: GOP Tries to Till New Soil in Once-Fertile Region
• Midwest: Ohio, Illinois Open-Seat Senate Races Get Top Billing
• Plains: Home to Full Range of Political Activity
• Southwest: GOP Looking to Recapture House Seats It Lost
• Mountain: Markey, Minnick Among Most Vulnerable Frosh

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Alaska

Filing deadline: June 1 | Primary: Aug. 24

Senate

Incumbent: Lisa Murkowski (R)
2nd term (49 percent)
Outlook: Safe Republican

Murkowski could have had the most difficult election of her life in 2004, when former Gov. Tony Knowles (D) challenged her for a full term. Murkowski was appointed by her father, then-Gov. Frank Murkowski (R), to serve out the rest of his term when he became governor. Even though Knowles was initially favored to defeat Murkowski, the Senator pulled out a 3-point win on Election Day.

Democrats have no plans to challenge Murkowski, as several of the state’s well-known Democrats have opted to run for governor in 2010. Former Gov. Sarah Palin (R), who defeated the Senator’s father in a gubernatorial primary, has said she won’t run against Murkowski either. Murkowski, a member of Senate Republican leadership, appears to be on a path to skate to re-election next year.

House

At-large
Incumbent: Don Young (R)
19th term (50 percent)
Outlook: Leans Republican

Young was hit on all sides last year, first favored to lose the primary to a statewide officeholder and then favored to lose the general election to one of Democrats’ top recruits of the cycle. Young surprised everyone — including himself, aides say — and won both 2008 races. Young defeated then-Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell (R) by 304 votes in the primary and then came from behind in public polls to defeat former state House Minority Leader Ethan Berkowitz (D) by a 5-point margin.

Not shockingly, Young has attracted both general election and primary opponents again this cycle. Young is still under investigation by the federal government. The scandal that plagued his candidacy last cycle has not gone away: Most recently, Young was accused of bribery in a former oil executive’s official testimony. Young was forced to step down from his top post on the Natural Resources Committee at the beginning of this Congress.

Businessman Andrew Halcro announced he would challenge Young in the primary in September. Halcro ran as an independent candidate for governor in 2006 and has developed a reputation on his radio show and Web site for being critical of former Gov. Sarah Palin (R). Halcro is considered by local Republicans to be a formidable candidate, but only time will tell whether he lives up to that billing when he files his first fundraising numbers early next year.

State Rep. Harry Crawford (D) announced his candidacy in late August and reported raising a meager $19,000 through the end of September. Although Crawford presents a different candidate profile than Berkowitz, he’s still viewed as having an uphill battle to compete with Young — who had only $123,000 in his bank account at the end of September. But if the Congressman’s legal situation changes in the next year, all bets are likely off.

California

Filing deadline: March 15 | Primary: June 8

Senate

Incumbent: Barbara Boxer (D)
3rd term (58 percent)
Outlook: Safe Democratic

Though California long was a partisan battleground, today the nation’s most populous state is deep Democratic blue. This was underscored by President Barack Obama’s whopping 2008 landslide in the Golden State — he got 61 percent, the highest vote share in the state for a Democratic presidential candidate since Franklin Roosevelt drew 67 percent in 1936.

Boxer’s image as an outspoken liberal has held her approval ratings down — a Field Poll released Oct. 19 pegged it at 44 percent — and Republicans think she could be vulnerable in the right political environment. Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, has been exploring a run and is expected to announce a campaign in November. She is the challenger of choice of GOP leaders in Washington, D.C., thanks to her ability to help fund an expensive statewide campaign, moderate political tendencies and name ID. But she also has baggage — her tenure at the helm of Hewlett-Packard was controversial and her stint as an economics adviser to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in 2008 also got mixed reviews.