Connecticut: Simmons Won’t Contest Recount, Loses by a Hair

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A recount of all the ballots in the Constitution State’s 2nd district validated the extremely narrow victory of former state Rep. Joe Courtney over three-term Rep. Rob Simmons (R).

On election night Courtney led by 167 votes. That triggered an automatic recount that finished late Tuesday night and pegged Courtney’s victory at 91 votes.

During a Wednesday afternoon news conference in Mystic, Simmons said he would not challenge the results of the recount.

“Any effort to do so would only be self defeating and destructive to the people we serve,” he said, according to the Hartford Courant.
— Nicole Duran

WYOMING
Cubin Declared Victor; Foe Ponders Challenge

Rep. Barbara Cubin (R) officially won re-election to her at-large seat Wednesday when election officials in the Equality State declared her the winner over Gary Trauner (D) by 1,012 votes. Cubin finished with 48.3 percent of the vote to Trauner’s 47.8 percent.

Trauner has until Friday to ask for a recount, as the difference between the two candidates fell just 79 votes over the number required to trigger an automatic recount under state law. Trauner would have to pay for the recount.
— N.D.

WEST VIRGINIA
Rockefeller Says He Will Seek a Fifth Term in ’08

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D) has said he will run for re-election in 2008, putting to rest rumors over the past months that he might look to retire at the end of his current term.

Rockefeller is set to become chairman of the Intelligence Committee at the beginning of the next Congress. But even before last week’s midterm elections were decided, Rockefeller said he would run for a fifth term.

“I hear from time to time that I’m not going to run,” Rockefeller told the crowd at the state Democratic Party’s annual Jefferson-Jackson dinner recently. “Can I put that one to bed? Can you imagine me not running?”

Rockefeller is not expected to face a difficult race for re-election.
— Lauren W. Whittington

NEW HAMPSHIRE
Bradley Won’t Rule Out ’08 Comeback Attempt

Rep. Jeb Bradley (R), whose defeat at the hands of Rep.-elect Carol Shea-Porter (D) was one of the few true upsets on Election Day, is mulling a bid to win back his seat in 2008.

While not definitive, he told the New Hampshire Union Leader of Manchester this week that “running for elective office is something that I certainly will be considering.”

He also said he believes that the political environment for Republicans will be much improved in two years.

Rep. Charles Bass (R), who lost his 2nd district seat to Rep.-elect Paul Hodes (D), has not said if he wants to try to reclaim his post.
— N.D.

TENNESSEE
DSCC: Whip Loss Shows Alexander Is Ineffective

It took Senate Democrats only a few minutes Wednesday to fire off the first news release of the 2008 cycle, using the outcome of the GOP leadership elections Wednesday to take a jab at Sen. Lamar Alexander (R).

Alexander lost a bid to become Minority Whip in the next Congress by one vote to Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.).

He also faces his first Senate re-election contest in 2008, and while Alexander is not viewed as particularly vulnerable, it didn’t stop the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee from suggesting that the leadership elections might be an ominous sign for that race — or implying that the first-term Senator might now contemplate retirement.

“Considering that he bragged about having the votes to win last week, Sen. Alexander’s defeat raises serious questions about how much clout he really has in the Senate,” DSCC spokesman Phil Singer said. “It’s a question that is going to haunt him for the next several months as he contemplates whether to seek another term.”
— L.W.W.