And Then There Were Two...
By: Josh
Published On: 11/19/2008 12:04:20 AM
It's been two weeks, but the AP has finally called the Alaska Senate race. Democratic challenger Mark Begich has defeated convicted felon Ted Stevens:
Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens has lost his bid for a seventh term.
The longest-serving Republican in the history of the Senate trailed Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich by 3,724 votes after Tuesday's count.
That's an insurmountable lead with only about 2,500 overseas ballots left to be counted.
Thus ends the career of the Republicans' longest serving Senator, and, consequently, any aspirations Sarah Palin might have had of spending 2009 in Washington, DC.
Facing a 205 vote deficit in Minnesota, Al Franken heads for a recount against Norm Coleman. In Georgia, Democrat Jim Martin hopes to overcome Saxby Chambliss' 49-46 polling lead by capitalizing on the Obama honeymoon. Al Gore, AFL, and Bill Clinton are all headed to Georgia to help Jim Martin.
If they run the table, Democrats just might get their holy grail: a filibuster-proof majority in the US Senate. Somehow though, today's vote to keep Joe Lieberman as the Homeland Security Chair makes it hard to celebrate. Lieberman needed to be removed. He's used his gavel at Homeland Security to obstruct investigations and to thwart the will of that anti-war electorate more commonly known as the overwhelming majority of the American people.
We just had an election in which the Bush/McCain/Lieberman agenda was resoundingly rejected, yet Senate Democrats have chosen to keep the status quo. About those congressional approval numbers... don't expect them to surge anytime soon.
Comments
We need to get over the Lieberman thing! (Shenandoah Democrat - 11/19/2008 8:14:39 AM)
Anyone with a sense of fair play is disappointed that Joe did not get punished and remains as HS Chair. At the very least I thought a serious apology and real sense of contrition was expected from him. But progressives and others disenchanted with this spineless Senatorial "courtesy" need to get over it fast. Lieberman will be punished soon enough by the voters of Connectiut, who are now polling 2-1 for getting rid of him.
So much is moving so fast right now in changes in our government that this one aberration cannot be allowed to distract us from the big picture.
Here's a much better target--what is happening to all the new regulations that Bush is ramming through at the last minute to gut a whole bunch of federal environmental, consumer and worker protections? We need to re-focus on the stuff that's important not whine about 2-bit Joe who will meet his own sad fate, and will be of very little consequence until he does.
Agreed about Lieberman (varealist - 11/19/2008 9:05:38 AM)
The Dems were following the lead of the head of the party -- Obama! -- who said he didn't want any retribution. Obama's trying to build large coalitions to govern and while this may not make sense in a 1990-2008 political climate, it's clear Obama's trying to move past the old politics (as much as possible) and letting Joe slide. Let the voters of Connecticut decide what to do with Joe when it's his turn.
How did Webb and Warner vote on Lie-berman? (thegools - 11/19/2008 11:06:14 AM)
I am guessing Warner favored L. whereas I haven't a clue on Webb.
Numbers? (NP - 11/19/2008 11:54:22 AM)
Since it was a secret vote we won't know but why can't we know the numbers for and against. I haven't found that yet.
And it isn't about retribution, it is about responsibility. We must be responsible for our actions. They didn't want to destroy him, just to take some of his power away. For God's Sake. How is an independent who wants republicans in charge deserving of such leadership.