Safe Hoeven

North Dakota's GOP governor John Hoeven is expected to announce he's running for Democrat Byron Dorgan's Senate seat today.

Hoeven's announcement will come just six days after Democratic Sen. Byron Dorgan said he would retire rather than seek a fourth term in 2010.

Hoeven's entry into the race is no surprise. A Rasmussen Reports poll conducted last month showed Hoeven lead Dorgan by 22 percentage points. Dorgan's abrupt and unexpected exit from the campaign made the race even more appealing to the widely popular three-term governor.

In recent days, top Republicans, including 2008 presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, have encouraged Hoeven to make the run in a contest in which he's presumed to be the favorite.

Hoeven, the nation's longest-serving governor, is expected to begin speaking to the Bismarck Republican District Convention around 6:00 p.m. Monday in order to snag live coverage from the local evening newscasts.

All indications are with Dorgan gone, Hoeven will have a rather easy path to a GOP pickup in 2010, but there are plenty of opportunities for the Dems to pick another Republican seat back up to replace it, mainly Roy Blunt's seat in Missouri.  Blunt is an incumbent Congressman running for an open Senate seat who is polling under 50% in a year where incumbents are not going to do well.

We'll see.  I still don't see the Dems losing a total of more than 2 or 3 seats max right now, but I do see plenty of trading parties where both sides pick up 3-7 seats.  The endgame of that will determine where the new Dem number lies.