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Candidates line up to run

Veteran lawmakers and political hopefuls have thrown their hats into the ring for Delaware's 2010 election, looking to have a hand in steering the state over the next few years.

Candidates were required to file by Tuesday. At the end of the day, 29 of the 41 seats up for grabs in the State House were contested; 13 involve a primary in September. Eight of the 11 state Senate seats will be contested, with two September primaries.  Four of the five statewide offices in play will be fought over.  The exception is Attorney General, where Democratic incumbent Beau Biden is currently unopposed.

For Republicans, the goal is to get back in the game after a pair of down election cycles in 2006 and 2008, that left them in the minority at Legislative Hall, in both the State House and Senate.

"I'm really excited about the legislative candidates this year,"  said Seth Wimer, executive director for the Delaware Republican Party.  "2006 and 2008 were tough years to recruit people to run for the Legislature.  They were difficult years for Republicans generally. We had a lot of candidates that we tried to recruit in 2006 and 2008 that said 'no' to us and this year, they're running."

Wimer says the overallpolitical environment is bringing Republican candidates out.

"The environment this year is more favorable toward Republicans. Republicans are more excited," said Wimer.

Democratic Party chair John Daniello disagrees.  He believes his party is also energized and that he's got the slate of candidates to prove it.

"It's a fuller ticket, in my mind, than we had even in '08 in terms of people running not just for open seats, but people running against the incumbents," said Daniello.

But the state Democratic Party chair admits a need to guard against complacency heading into the fall after holding the Governor's office and taking over the House in 2008.

"Can we match the success of '08?  There are many of those who say there's no way.  I'm not sure of that,"  Daniello said. "There's going to be an drop off in voters maybe in an off year, but this is historical and both parties will have to deal with that."

Wimer sees opportunities for Republican success, especially in the party's effort to win back the State House.  One opening involves targeting newer Democratic members of the House.

"There's a number of freshman Democrat members of the State House that have primaries that I think are going to be difficult primaries and that puts them in a tougher position,"  said Wimer.

Freshman Democrats in the House facing primaries are State Rep. Quinn Johnson in the 8th District, State Rep. Earl Jaques in the 27th district and State Rep. Brad Bennett in the 32nd District.

Wimer also points to Judy Travis' race against State Rep. Bryon Short in the 7th District, Christopher Weeks battle against House majority leader Pete Schwartzkopf in the 14th district and former House Speaker Terry Spence's effort regain his seat from State Rep. Michael Barbieri in the 18th district as marquee races from the Republican perspective.

Daniello says the Democratic Party has not yet targeted any districts specifically, but says solidifying or even strengthening his party's majority in the State House is possible.

"My job is to make sure that majority is maintained.  I think there are some seats out there on the Republican side, a good example is the (Richard) Cathcart resignation (9th district), the (Bill) Oberle resignation (24th district), these are obviously seats are obtainable to the Democrats," said Daniello.

Daniello concedes there are some Democratic seats in jeopardy.

"We've got some seats, I'm not going to name them, where normally they would be Republican and they're not now and I'm sure the other side is looking to take them back," Daniello said.

Leadership in both parties agree on what issue will define this election cycle.

"Whether it's at the federal level, whether it's the state and local level, everything is about the economy,"  said Wimer. "People are concerned about their checkbook.  They're concerned about their jobs.  I don't think people have a lot of confidence in where they're gong to be in their personal lives economically in the next, say, 18 months."

"I don't think anybody can get away from the major issue in this country, let alone this state.  You hear it even into the neighborhoods. And that's jobs," Danellio said. "If we can turn the economy around and put people back to work, things will be fine.  That frustration, we've got to work see that it doesn't have a big, negative impact on turnout."

You can see more of what Delaware Republican Party executive director Seth Wimer and Delaware Democratic Party chairman John Daniello think about the 2010 election cycle here.