Points By Drew Pritt

A note on all the recent Senate appointments….I have called most of them wrong.

ILLINOIS was pure luck and because I know and respect Roland Burris.

DELAWARE, while I figured it would be Harriett Windsor Smith, I knew it would be a placeholder.

But COLORADO….the Bennet pick was from out of center field, really. Just never thought Governor Ritter would play that outside of the box.

In NEW YORK….I knew Caroline Kennedy would end up snuffing out, but I thought it would be smart for Governor Paterson to help out his buddy, Mayor Bloomberg, and play to Senator Schumer. Well Schumer got his pick, supposedly, but in the end Anthony Weiner would have been 100 times better pick than Gillibrand.

In NEW HAMPSHIRE….I was right that Lynch would pick a woman. He picked a placeholder and now I think Swett may go for Paul Hodes seat and give him a clear path to the U.S. Senate. But she has $1.7 million in the bank and I have called these wrong so far….so what do I know???

Before there were blogs like the Arkansas Times Blog or  Blakes Think Tank or my own, there was the Evans-Novak Political Report. This was a political sheet that started in 1967 with Rowland Evans and Robert Novak, the first year of Ronald Reagan’s 1st term as Governor of California. Mind you, Novak’s conservatism was as slanted as my progressive outlook. But it was good to read and this tip sheet got some good tips before the major media outlets.

But all that ended this week. With Robert Novak battling a strong disease he has not been able to do the job. To his credit, Novak left the blog to Tim Carney. Carney did a good, less biased job, but the absence of Evans and Novak have removed the flavor of the tip sheet.

So….Novak pulled the plug. We sure will miss this source and pray for healing mercy from God for Robert Novak….both of his current affliction and his recurrent conservatism.

As details emerge that President Barack Obama may select U.S. Senator Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) to be his new Secretary of Commerce, the gleam of a 60 seat, filibuster U.S. Senate, shines like a new penny.

The pressure is going to be on Governor John Lynch either way to name either a successor thats a Republican seatwarmer or a bona fide Democrat, who can mount a successful reelection. A reelection in the same year that Lynch himself will be seeking a fourth term….possibly against former U.S. Senator John Sununu, Jr. (R).

So who does Lynch appoint? How can he appease both sides and come out a winner? The answer is he may need to “Swett” this one out.

Specifically, Katrina Swett, wife of former U.S. Congressman and onetime U.S. Senate aspirant himself, Dick Swett (D-N.H.), and daughter of the late U.S. Congressman Tom Lantos (D-Ca.), a powerhouse himself. But Katrina Swett is no stranger to the scene herself. She ran an ill-concieved 2002 U.S. House bid that she learned a lot of lessons from. Then last year, she graciously step aside for former Governor Jeanne Shaheen (D) to have what would end up being a successful rematch for the U.S. Senate, ousting Sununu. (more…)