We currently have 48 Senators who vote as Democrats. Tell Us about Yours.

[Rhiannon12866]

40. I felt the same way about Owens, but he was by far the better choice.

And Kirsten Gillibrand got an "A" rating from the NRA, too, though I understand she's backed off that since she's had kids. Scott Murphy basically took on her positions on the issues, but I got to know him a little since I worked on both of his campaigns and he'd stop by - he's local, after all - with his wife, Jen Hogan (from Hudson Falls), and the little Murphys. My impression of him was that he was both intelligent and sincere. He won the "special election" in 2009 - but he actually told me that it was by the smallest margin of anyone in the House.

And then he lost to Chris Gibson in 2010 which was extremely disappointing. I worked on that campaign, too, and went to their "debate," which was overrun by these senior citizens wearing red shirts who were quite disruptive - apparently they had been bused in. One of the big issues was "don't ask, don't tell" which ex-military Gibson supported, while Scott equated it to Truman's desegregation of the military...

Aaron Woolf made a great impression, I thought, and Bill Owens made the rounds with him, but I agree that there had to be money behind Stefanik. Compared to the Murphy campaign, it seemed like there wasn't much of an effort. And this time around, there was the Green candidate, too, which I immediately felt spelled trouble for the Democrats. He was very outspoken.

I know that we already have a Democratic candidate for 2018, but I haven't met him yet. He's started holding meetups already. But compared to the Gillibrand campaign - which sent President Clinton here! - it's beginning to feel like it did during the long John Sweeney reign - when the Democrats often didn't bother to field a candidate.