Senate news: No more challenger in Tennessee, but there is Mississippi to compensate

• Tennessee Democrat drops out
  

Mike McWherter, the leading Democratic challenger for the Senate seat of Lamar Alexander, just withdrew from the race, explaining his move with family considerations. Democrats never had much hope for this race, though they were at least confident that McWhether would self-fund his candidacy given his personal wealth. I had ranked the seat 17th most vulnerable in my most recent rankings, but at least the Democrats had a candidate that would have been able to take advantage of a macaca-like moment by the incumbent.

So this is not major congressional news, but insofar as the DSCC prides itself of "expanding the map" and putting many seats in play, it ought to be mentioned that they have not gotten very far in Tennessee.

• Mississippi Update

News is obviously unfolding fast in Mississippi, and the consensus this Tuesday morning appears to be that Democrats would try and challenge Barbour in court if Lott resigns in 2007 and Barbour schedules the special election next November. Jim Hood, the current state Attorney General, is siding with the argument that a special election would be necessary within 100 days and is not ruling out legal action. This could turn into chaos pretty fast.

As for the candidates, the WaPo's Fix reports that Schumer has already spoken to Mike Moore, who released a statement in the evening: "As for me, I appreciate all the calls I have received from friends, colleagues, and supporters today encouraging me to run. I will make my decision soon." Former Governor Ronnie Musgrove had already said yesterday he was interested and would take a decision soon as well. The Fix also says the current AG Jim Hood will not run, further restricting the list of potential candidates on the Democratic side.