After brief talk of his retirement after his current term expires, Lamar Alexander appears to be posed to defend his seat in 2008. He was a surprisingly vocal opponent of The Surge, and yet still voted with the GOP when the time came. He has hired Tom Ingram as his chief of staff, the same Tom Ingram who helped get Fred Thompson, Bob Corker, and Lamar himself get elected to the Senate (if you still think "flannel shirt" when you hear "Lamar Alexander," that was Ingram's idea). Curiously, though, he has raised very little money at this point. With all the talk about being a moderate, calling for bi-partisanship in the Senate, he remains a Bush rubberstamper (anti-gay marriage, pro-gun, pro-Bush tax cuts, pro-capital punishment, pro-life, anti-marijuana legalization, pro-social security privatization, pro-missile defense) and party loyalist. So he needs to go. Maybe they'll talk him into another presidential run. They're asking pretty much everybody nowadays. Here's a look at his possible Democratic replacements.
