Say It Ain't So, Beau
Jan 25, 2010 | Posted by John Isaacs

Very disappointing news today.

Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, one of the sons of Vice President Joseph Biden, declared he would not run for Senate from the state of Delaware.

Most observers had expected him to run.

He was a statewide elected official, had great name identification, and made an excellent impression at the 2008 National Democratic Convention.

When the Vice President was sworn in, he arranged for his former Chief of Staff Ted Kaufman to keep his seat warm for two years until Beau Biden returned from a stint with the National Guard in Iraq and launched a campaign for Senate.

Indeed, with popular GOP Congressman Mike Castle running for the seat, Beau Biden was thought to be the only Delaware Democrat who could hold the seat for the Democrats.

But Biden has frustrated us.  He will run for re-election as Attorney General.

He may have perfectly good reasons to make this decision, but the Senate seat will now almost surely flip from Democratic to Republican in January 2011.

Say it ain't so, Beau!*

Click here to see our full Senate race analysis.

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*For those too young to remember, baseball player Shoeless Joe Jackson disappointed his legion of supporters when he admitted to a grand jury that he helped throw the 1919 World Series.  A young fan was reported to have said after the slugger's grand jury appearance, "Say it ain't so, Joe."