2010 Senate Race: Pennsylvania and California

As the nation prepares for the 2010 Senate Race, its media companies and organizations follow along with intense coverage. Not to be entirely outdone, I’ve decided to investigate some of the critical races.

The New York Times provides this incredible, interactive graphic, in which it details 6 states as toss-up states, and 3 others as leaning democratic. Even if the Republican party were to seize all of the Republican leaning seats (8), and the 6 toss-up seats, it would still need to gain two of the Democratic leaning seats in order to gain a majority in the Senate. However bleak this may seem, encouragement may be found in examinations of the Pennsylvanian and Californian races.

In Pennsylvania, the Republican candidate is Pat Toomey (you can visit his campaign site here, and you should watch the introductory video), who seems to be a solid conservative, truly focused on sound ideology, rather than mere political safety. For the past 29 years, Pennsylvania has been the domain of Arlen Specter, but he has been defeated in the primaries, and it seems that Mr. Toomey has quite the chance to take this election; such a victory would be immensely encouraging.

In California, Barbara Boxer has held a seat for 17 years, and her staunch feminism and pro-abortion position were among the factors prompting Marjorie Dannenfelser to create the Susan B. Anthony List. This race, she faces a challenge from Carly Fiorina, her perfect antithesis. Obviously, a victory here would be incredible.

Examining these two critical races reveals not only that the upcoming Senate race is promising for the Republican party, but also for conservatism, which is far more important, and far more encouraging.