a "vulnerable" Senator?

Where?

You think voters in Indiana, North Carolina, or Missouri are gonna get all mad because a Republican Senator dared to oppose a liberal judge? If that is the case, then why did those states vote Republican in so many recent Presidential elections?

Right now about the only vulnerable ones are in New Hampshire and Florida. And Rubio of Florida has been trying to avoid Presidential politics? New Hampshire though was always vulnerable, and the Senate numbers are such that Ayotte can disavow any Republican filibuster and that will not stop the filibuster from being effective.

This piece reads like wishful thinking to me, and does not bother to name any of these supposedly vulnerable Senators. In my view the death of Scalia seems tailor made to motivate Republican voters - to arms, to arms, the court is at stake. 2nd Amendment, abortion, to arms! The death of Ginsberg would have given more motivation to our side.

It just seems to me that the devil knew what he was doing when he called Scalia home.

Heck I still might be a candidate against either Thune or Moran, both of whom are currently running unopposed.

I never give up. I say give them hell to the very end.

But I like to be realistic about the outcome.

Kentucky has the impact of Rand Paul's flameout of a potential bid for the Republican nomination, the Tea Party is going after McCain in the primary which if they win could shake up the race there, in Georgie the Republican incumbent has Parkinson's, and in Ohio there is Portman's trouble with the Republican base over same sex marriage and if there is an ugly fit with the Republican nominee and John Kasich, that could cause some issues downstream on the Republican side. If Trump is the nominee and acts like the giant asshat that he is to Kasich who is popular in Ohio, it could cause Republican Ohioans to not turn out.

It's another state Obama carried twice, and Kirk is facing a strong challenge from Tammy Duckworth.

Iowa also meets the criteria (Republican Senator up for re-election in a state Obama carried twice) but Grassley is still very popular. He'll be a big favorite for re-election even if he (as Judiciary Chair) refuses to hold hearings on Obama's nominee.

North Carolina was a narrow Obama win in 2008 and then a narrow Romney win in 2012, so Burr might feel some pressure.

forgot about Wisconsin and Illinois, even though I just looked at Sabato's map. Pennsylvania and Ohio are fairly shaky too.

However, I would say they become LESS vulnerable than they were with a fired up Republican base, and Scalia's death seems likely to fire up Republicans. Probably won't matter in a Presidential year though. With the Senate being 54-46 they still can have New Hampshire, Illinois and Wisconsin Senators vote FOR cloture while cloture fails.

Trump might still pick Kasich as his Veep to assuage people who think he is nuts.

He could have gotten immensely better press just by pretending to be civil.

They could have held hearings, voted no in committee, and then let it die to a filibuster on the floor, he could lose 14 Republican votes before cloture would be invoked on the nominee.

Instead McConnell did all he knows and went full-on obstructionist, what a great gift to the DSCC.

What records? The Republicans in the Senate don't have a lot of accomplishments to run on anyway.

That said, I hope this does hurt them.

Let's see what happens.