It’s hard to peel away from the presidential race, and I’m as guilty as anyone else, but there are some interesting developments in what might be called the "Pending Republican Open House Seat Disaster of 2008" chronicles.First, New York Republican It’s hard to peel away from the presidential race, and I’m as guilty as anyone else, but there are some interesting developments in what might be called the "Pending Republican Open House Seat Disaster of 2008" chronicles. First, New York Republican Jim Walsh announced his retirement last week. His district is in central New York, and as it happens I remember his first campaign, in 1988. I was president of College Republicans at SUNY-Oswego (yes, it’s true) and went to a Walsh-Dan Quayle event that year. In 2006, Walsh got a pretty good scare in is district (which has a Partisan Voting Index of +3.4 Democratic) from Dan Maffei, a smart, young Dan Moynihan acolyte, last time around. Maffei immediately becomes the favorite to win this November. More shocking, second, is the news from Wyoming's at-large race, where another near-miss Democratic candidate from 2006 who is also giving it another go this cycle, Gary Trauner , looks pretty solid. According to a Mason-Dixon poll conducted for the Casper Star-Tribune, Trauner leads potential Republican nominee Cynthia Lummis by a statistically-insignificant point in the race. This is actually more startling of a result, given that the seat from which Republican Rep. Barbara Cubin is retiring has a PVI of +19.4R. --Tom Schaller
