The Gaggle: Senate Shakeup

>>> let's bring back our gaggle. perry bacon jr., by the way. we left off the junior. maria teresa kumar. in the last two hours two open senate seats. tom harken. saxby chambliss . i was surprised by that one.

>> i was surprised. hints for that for a while, too. we had a whole -- he's in the same place a lot of these veteran senators are. like lindsey graham . a lot of uncertainty about him. tea party angst about him. a little too moderate in their minds.

>> pete?

>> saxby chambliss may have seen what happened in indiana and said is it worth -- he claims he would have won and beaten any primary challenger. he sound like a lot of what i call legislative conservatives in this town. frustrated both in his statement, took a shot at the president, but also took a shot at congress.

>> there's a lot of frustration. i'm disappointed that herman cain 's not going to run for the seat. that would have been entertaining for all involved. but with iowa, harkharken, it's a great opportunity for republicans. it's been a good 72 hours for us politically speaking.

>> we'll see on that front. maria, watching tom harkin , i've had some democrats argue to me, bruce brayly is the democratic nominee. might be a better candidate for them in this environment that they expect to be running in in 2014 . you don't want to be an incumbent. you don't want to be entrenched washington . you want to have a little more leeway to run against washington .

>> coming out from the outside it actually provides what you're saying. it gives them that balance. i think what the biggest problem right now in washington is that you have all these senators, these lions that basically remember how washington used to work. nonpartisan -- in a bipartisanship manner. they're getting tired. what message does that say for the next generation of leadership?

>> perry, it's interesting. they're free votes now. tom harkin running for re-election, where would he have been on guns? saxby chambliss , where's he going to be?

>> he might be someone who plays a big role in somebody who compromises on the debt, deficit. that's what he wants to do anyway. he can now behave as he wants to behave.

>> how important, pete, is it that these guys announce early these decisions?

>> it's huge. especially for primaries to try and hopefully clear the field if you can.

>> good luck with that. ultimately, all of these senate races are going to be about what does the republican party look like?

>> right.

>> democrats clear their fields pretty well.

>> yes.

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>> wow. don't start marking it by months. you're going to get the rest of us in trouble. that's it for this edition of "the daily