Popular Republican Castle to Seek Biden Senate Seat
Castle's announcement immediately puts Biden's former seat – a seat he held from 1972 until January - in play for the Republicans, even as Biden's son, state attorney general Beau Biden, readies for his own run.
While Delaware is a reliably 'blue' state in presidential elections, the 70-year-old Castle, a moderate Republican, has held statewide office for decades and is extremely popular statewide.
His congressional seat is 'at-large,' meaning it's a statewide seat, and he's been elected easily to it every year since 1992. He also served as governor for two terms from 1984-92 and has never lost an election since his first race for the Delaware legislature in 1966.
Sen. Ted Kaufman, D-Del., who was appointed to replace Vice President Biden in January, has said he won't run for the seat in 2010.
It's Democrat Beau Biden, who's also an Iraq war vet, who has the real name recognition working in his favor as he goes after his dad's former seat. But Castle's announcement today assures that this will not be a cakewalk for Biden, if he gets in, and it'll be one race to watch in 2010.
Correction: An earlier version of this post reported that former Lt. Gov. John Carney, D-Del., is also running for Senate in Delaware. He is instead running for the at-large House seat.