Young general vs. staunch Castle

Rep. Mike Castle’s (R-Del.) decision to run for the Senate seat formerly occupied by Vice President Joe Biden instantly creates one of the most intriguing races of the 2010 midterm elections.

In all likelihood, the veteran House member will find himself facing a Democrat with far less experience. But he will not for a second make the mistake of thinking his novice opponent will be easily beaten, for the man in question will probably be Beau Biden, the vice president’s son.

The younger Biden will come with electorally attractive qualifications; he is Delaware’s attorney general and this year has been serving in the National Guard in Iraq.

Still, Castle’s entry into the fray can be expected to transform what could have been a sedate and largely uncontested coronation of Biden into a rough-and-tumble exercise in real democracy in which the outcome is unpredictable, which is as it should be.

Election connoisseurs will surely be treated to such spectacles as the vice president introducing his son, home from the war, to an ecstatic throng of supporters, just as Beau introduced his father to a comparable throng at last year’s nominating convention in Denver.

The contested Delaware seat has been kept warm for Beau by Sen. Ted Kaufman (D), a former chief of staff in the elder Biden’s Senate office, who was appointed as a placeholder after his boss’s move to the White House.

For Republicans, Castle’s entry is a morale boost, a feather in the cap of National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Cornyn (Texas) and an opportunity to pare back Democratic dominance in the upper chamber of Congress. If Castle were to win, it would be the first Republican pickup of a Democratic Senate seat since 2004.

“I don’t have any illusions that this will be easy street,” Castle said at his press conference on Tuesday. It will take all the experience and wide popularity of the two-term governor and nine-term lawmaker to beat the candidate who, perhaps above any other, will be favored by the Obama-Biden administration.

Both sides of the contest started out Tuesday with expressions of admiration for their opposition. Castle said, “I have a lot of respect for Joe Biden and, more importantly, friendship.”

Likewise, Delaware Democratic Party Chairman John Daniello said, “I have a lot of respect for Mike Castle.”

But the gloves were being eased off immediately. Daniello added, “Rep. Castle has been growing increasingly out of touch with Delaware voters.”

It is going to be an expensive and gripping bare-knuckle fight.