In about three hours, at 1pm PST, I’ll be chatting with Andrew Rice, the 34-year-old Okla. state senator and Democratic candidate for Senate in Oklahoma. Yes, that’s the guy running against the 74-year-old Inhofe. You can read about his positions on the issue here. (Global warming is one of the top four.)
Oklahoma’s a fairly conservative state — it went 66% Republican in the last presidential election — though there’s a popular Dem in the governor’s mansion. Republicans control the state House; the state Senate is equally divided. At the federal level, both Oklahoma’s Senators are Republican; four of its five Reps are R.
Sen. Inhofe has been handily elected three times now. Here’s his electoral history, from Wikipedia:
- 2002 Oklahoma United States Senatorial Election
- James Inhofe (R) (inc.), 57%
- David Walters (D), 36%
- James Germalic (I), 6%
- 1996 Oklahoma United States Senatorial Election
- James Inhofe (R) (inc.),57%
- James Boren (D), 40%
- 1994 Oklahoma United States Senatorial Election
- James Inhofe (R), 55%
- Dave McCurdy (D), 40%
Have things changed? As this story on Rice’s run makes clear, not since 1990 has a Dem candidate for Senate from Okla. gotten more than 40% of the vote. But at least some observers have been warming up to Rice’s chances, since he’s running against one of the most staunch supporters of a historically unpopular president. His fundraising numbers have been beating expectations.
Here’s is the Rice campaign’s blogging on Daily Kos, and here is Rice’s blogging.
What should I ask him?
