Moore Trouble?

DCCC Chair Chris Van Hollen (MD-08) may have picked incumbent retention as his focus this cycle as Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (CA-08) assistant. But open seats may be the priority early on, as Heath Shuler (D-NC 11) contemplates a SEN bid and rumors swirl about a potential Dennis Moore (D-KS 03) retirement.

-- State Sen. Nick Jordan (R) put up a very credible '08 challenge to Moore, but was summarily dispatched with just 40%. Moore's win signaled that he was off-limits to GOPers in '10. But an open seat would change this dramatically. While Jordan was going down to defeat, John McCain took Johnson Co. (the CD's largest) with 54%. GOPers have long eyed this suburban Kansas City CD, and if Moore did retire, it would make this one of the party's biggest '10 targets.

-- But KS GOPers always seem to find a way to open that old conservative/moderate wound. In '08, Jordan was able to clear the field. Indeed, he appears to be a candidate that can bridge that GOP divide. But in this GOP-leaning CD, will other conservatives be able to stay on the sidelines for the first open seat since '98? Also promising for Dems is that they have a bench in this GOP heavy CD. Four of the nine state Senators in the CD are Dems, including one that ran statewide in '06.