The Cornered Dinosaur

Sen. Jim Bunning (Ky.) is considered one of the most vulnerable Republicans up for reelection in 2010. His approval rating among Kentucky voters has never exceeded 49%, and is currently sinking into the low 40s.

More significantly, his fellow Republicans actively can't stand him and have become increasingly more frank in wishing him into the nearest lake. He has "behavior issues," according to a fellow Republican senator. Most recently, he threatened to resign his seat early so that the Democratic governor of Kentucky could appoint a Democrat to replace him. He has kvetched publicly that Sen. John Cornyn, head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, is not shoveling money his way (saying, I don't believe a word Cornyn says!), and he actually threatened to sue the NRSC if it supported another Republican in a Kentucky primary against him.

There was wincing all around when he confidently predicted last month that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg would be dead in nine months.

It was for more substantive failures at his job that Time magazine named him one of the five worst U.S. senators in 2006.