Another Republican Bows Out of Senate Race
Domenici, 75, is the fifth incumbent Senator to announce retirement plans. The others: Wayne Allard (R-CO), Larry Craig (R-ID), Chuck Hagel (R-NE), and John Warner (R-VA).
Going into this election, the Democrats were already at an advantage because most of the contested seats (22) are held by Republicans. Dems only need to defend 12 seats. Now almost a quarter of the Republican seats are in play. (Re-election rate for Congress is about 90 percent.)
Domenici was implicated in the US Attorneys firing scandal. Former US Attorney Iglesias says he received phone calls from US Senator Pete Domenici (R-NM) and US Representative Heather Wilson (R-NM) in October 2006, pressing him "to speed up a probe of Democrats just before the November elections." Shortly after that phone call, Iglesias was put on the "to be fired list" at Justice.
Domenici's resignation means a lot of recent party work will go down the drain. For example, President Bush was in New Mexico in August to help Domenici raise $400,000 for re-election. (A motorcycle police officer was killed in presidential escort duty on this fundraising trip, the second for this Administration. Another motorcycle officer died after crashing while escorting Bush in Hawaii in 2006.)
Although Domenici cannot keep those campaign funds for personal use, should he find himself facing a legal bill related to his time in the Senate, he can ask the Federal Elections Commission to approve the expenditure.