Outline
Following the 2008 presidential elections that were held in America, senatorial elections are expected to take place in 2010. Several candidates have already declared their intentions to run for the upcoming senatorial elections and have already started the campaigns. Among the seats that are to be filled during the 2010’s elections are nineteen republican and seventeen democratic seats. There have been predictions on the winners of the various senatorial seats but final winners will only be determined campaign strategies which will determine the elections’ outcomes.
Introduction
According to (Simon, 2008), United States is looking forward to a series of senatorial campaigns which research has shown to have already started in an undertone. These campaigns will be conducted in preparation for senatorial elections that have been scheduled take place in 2010. The senatorial elections in United States will follow the 2008 presidential elections where Democratic Party won. Though the senate comprises of members from other U.S political parties, the two major parties; Democratic and Republican parties, which led in the 2008 presidential elections will also be running for senatorial elections to be held in 2010. Democratic Party is expected to run for seventeen seats while Republican Party takes the remaining nineteen seats with a total of the seats to be filled during 2010’s senatorial elections being thirty six. Among the main candidates running for the upcoming senatorial elections are Barbara Boxer and Blanche Lincoln from Democratic Party as well as Richard Shelby and John Isakson from Republican Party.
Barbara Boxer
Barbara Boxer who is a Democratic Party contender of the upcoming senatorial elections was born in November 1940 and she currently holds the position of Junior Senator of U.S representing California. She is not a new figure in Senatorial campaigns as she was in 2004 elections where she received the largest number of votes defeating Bill Jones. She studied economics at Brooklyn College and later joined the cooperate world where she worked in the stock exchange market. She married Boxer in 1962 after which she got involved in American politics in early 1970s. Her first attempt to run for a seat was in 1972 when she closely lost Marin County’s seat to Peter Arrigoni. She later ran for the same seat in 1982 when she won and from that time, Barbara has occupied several positions in the American politics.
As a representative of U.S House, she supported several motions among them being environmental protection, abortion issues and several motions protecting human rights. Barbara first occupied the Senator’s seat in 1992 and has since then being re-elected as California’s Senator. During presidential campaigns that took place in 2008, Barbara declared her intentions to run for the Senatorial elections that will be taking place in late 2010 where if she wins, it will be her fourth term to serve as Senator representing California. From her past record regarding this particular responsibility, it has been predicted that she might go unchallenged by fellow members of Democratic Party since she has already won favor from the people she represents in California. (Arthur, 2008)
Upon re-election, Barbara has planned to address several issues that will in turn bring change to her State as well as to the people living in California. One such issue concerns the health of California’s people and of Americans at large. She has been found to support a number of research projects on medicine which has been researching on causes and cure for various diseases like autism as it has been a major problem in California. She is also expected to join the team that will be implementing bailing out of companies as she is among those who are in support of the bill. Barbara has also been campaigning for protection as well as conservation of environment which has resulted to her support of a bill that is expected to protect a large piece of land in Northern California where wilderness and a scenic river lies. (Kenneth, 2008)
Blanche Lincoln
According to (Vicente, 2007), this is another Democratic Party Senatorial candidate for the upcoming elections representing Arkansas State. Most of Blanche’s early life was spent in the same state that she represents as she was born and also studied in Arkansas. With a degree in law, Blanche was employed to assist Bill Alexander who was a District Congressman at that time. In 1992, she ran for the seat that was held by Alexander which she won and was later re-elected where she served until 1997. She went for a break of one year from politics and returned in 1998 when she sought a Senatorial seat and won defeating Boozman who was holding a Republican seat.
She has been found to take part in Senate Committees discussing various issues among them being finance, energy, aging and agriculture. However, agriculture has been her favorite area of concentration where she is primarily concerned with large scale farmers as well as issues affecting farming in Arkansas’ rural areas. She was re-elected as Arkansas Senator in 2004 and has continued to represent the issues that affect the people of her state especially those that has to do with farming. Blanche has failed to support a Farm Bill which she argued would negatively affect cotton growers in Arkansas. She expects to continue fighting for the rights of Arkansas’ farmers and that is the reason why she will be running for the Arkansas seat in the upcoming senatorial elections.
Richard Shelby
Richard is a republican who has also shown interest in the upcoming senatorial elections. He represents Alabama which is the state where he was born and studied. However, Richard did not start his political career with Republican Party but in Democratic Party and only moved to his current party in 1994. It was Richards’s career in law that led him to join politics which he did in 1963 where he practiced his career until 1970 when he joined membership of the Senate of Alabama. He served in the membership for eight years before being elected in the Representative’s House. He ran for Alabama’s senatorial seat in 1986 but was representing his state in Democratic Party. He ran for the same seat in 1992 where he was elected back to the office still through Democratic Party. In his reign as a Democratic Alabama’s Senator, he preferred taking the defense side in most of the issues that were being discussed since the house was mostly occupied by Republicans whose views were contradicting with his.
However, Richard decided to join the majority who were at that time the Republicans. He ran for Alabama’s seat on the same party in 1998 where he won and was re-elected in 2004. Among the committees that Richard has been a member and sometimes chaired include aging, banking, urban affairs and appropriations committees. While in house, he has always supported a flat rate of taxing for all Americans and disagrees with bills in support of legalization of abortion. Richard kept an anti-environment record when he disagreed with some issues which according to his fellow Republicans were pro-environment. However, there are several instances where Richard has been accused of disclosing some information that was supposed to be confidential among committee members. Another controversial issue in Richard’s political career is a very recent case where he was found to question about President Obama’s American citizenship. (Semiatin, 2008)
From his experience in the political arena, Richard is looking forward to running for Alabama’s senatorial seat in 2010. He showed his interest in improving the level and quality of research in Alabama University when he put up a very large building from where various researches on engineering, transportation and science would be carried out. Upon re-election, Richard will likely continue to support research projects by funding another building from where students will be carrying out advanced researches and still another for mechanical engineering projects. (Semiatin, 2008)
John Isakson
John, who was born in 1944 is a republican representing Georgia and is also running for a senatorial seat in the upcoming 2010 elections. He joined the American politics when he ran for a seat in the Representatives’ House but lost. However, he did not give up as he sought for the same seat in 1976 when he won and was re-elected seven more times. John attempted running for Georgia’s senatorial seat in 1996 but lost. He did not run for that seat again until the year 2004 after Zell Miller opted to give up running for another senatorial term. John took the advantage and used his social conservatism to campaign for that seat which he finally won. He has been known to support issues that concern humanity such as disagreeing with bills supporting gay marriages as well as abortion. He promises to continue fighting for human rights for the people of Georgia and Americans at large if he is re-elected as Georgia’s Senator. (Brownson, 2007)
This is just a small section of candidates who are expected to run for the upcoming senatorial seats since thirty six seats are expected to be filled. Other democrats include Ron Wyden running for Oregon’s seat, Harry Reid running for Nevada’s seat and patty Murray running for Washington’s seat. On the other hand, republicans running for senatorial seats include, Mike Crapo running for Idaho’s seat, David Vitter running for Louisiana’s Seat, Richard Burr running for North Carolina’s seat and Bob Bennett running for Utah’s seat. As these and other senatorial candidates conduct campaigns, some predictions have been put forward by different sources where Democratic Party has been predicted to lead in the states of North Dakota where its represented by Byron Dorgan, California being represented by Barbara Boxer, Nevada being represented by Harry Reid, and Washington being represented by Patty Murray. On the other hand, Republican Party is expected to lead in the states of Iowa being represented by Chuck Grassley, Oklahoma being represented by Tom Coburn, and North Carolina being represented by Richard Burr. (Brownson, 2007)
Conclusion
(Grant, 2007), argues that, although predictions have been made on those who are going to lead in the upcoming senatorial elections, most of the candidates have already engaged themselves in heated campaigns and strategies employed in the campaigns will determine the final winners. However, the current predictions are based on lack of strong opponents of the mentioned candidates while others have no opponents at all. Most of those who are predicted to win are seeking for re-elections and have already laid firm foundations in their states of representation.
References
Arthur C. Washington Representatives: Columbia Books Incorporated Publishers, 2008 pp13-17.
Brownson A. Congressional Staff Directory: Bobbs- Merrill Co. 2007 pp09-12.
Grant U. The Almanac of American Politics: University of Michigan, 2007 pp10-13.
Kenneth F. U.S Campaigns, Elections, and Electoral Behavior: Sage, 2008 pp23-25.
Semiatin J. Campaigns on the Cutting Edge: University of Michigan, 2008 pp15-18.
Simon D. Breaking the political Ceiling: Routledge, 2008 pp28-31..
Vicente F. Public Policy options for the Well-being of All: World Bank, 2007 pp16-19