Son of Former President Running for U.S. Senate

Jack Carter announced he was joining the Democratic ticket in challenging Republican Senator John Ensign. He made the announcement from a union hall in Las Vegas.

Jack's pedigree as first son will help him with credibility and name recognition. This race will definitely be one to watch as Carter could make a strong run at Ensign. In order to do so he will have to do something counter-intuative. He needs to keep his dad out of the campaign as much as possible.

One would think that having a President in your corner would be a good thing. However, President Carter has made some poor PR decisions as of late that could minimize his son's political power. His comments on how the U.S. should deal with Hamas as well as his association with a key figure in the oil-for-food scandal in Iraq could be a potential liability to his son.

Judging from how things were done with this campaign at this point it looks like Jack has found the best possible use for President Carter in his campaign. The President never spoke during the announcement preferring not to steal his son's thunder. Afterwards he told the press that he will work mainly on the fundraising side of the campaign.