Tuesday, October 17, 2006
I have taken clear positions on difficult issues, and I have taken difficult positions on clear issues.
(This is funny.)
(So is this.)
For those of you who haven't been following the mid-term elections in the States, you should really start checking this daily. The story so far, as far as the Senate goes:
1. At dissolution, the standings were fifty-five Republicans, forty-four Democrats, and one independent (former Republican Jim Jeffords of Vermont, who was among the Senate's more liberal Senators and voted with Democrats on procedural questions).
2. Seats up for grabs include fifteen currently held by Republicans, sixteen currently held by Democrats, and Jeffords'.
3. Of the Republican seats, only Bill Frist of Tennessee is not seeking re-election. Of the fourteen Republicans up for re-election, only eight - Olympia Snowe of Maine, Richard Lugar of Indiana, Trent Lott of Mississippi, Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas, Craig Thomas of Wyoming, Orrin Hatch of Utah, John Ensign of Nevada, and John Kyl of Arizona - are expected to be re-elected without appreciable difficulty.
4. Of the sixteen Democratic seats, all incumbents except Minnesota's Mark Dayton and Maryland's Paul Sarbanes are seeking re-election. In addition, Joe Liberman of Connecticut is running as an independent after being defeated in the state's Democratic primary by Ned Lamont. Of the thirteen Democratic Senators running for re-election as Democrats, only New Jersey's Robert Menendez is facing a credible threat.
5. Of the five "open" seats (Tennessee, Minnesota, Maryland, Connecticut, and Vermont), Minnesota (Amy Klobuchar) and Maryland (Ben Cardin) are expected to go Democratic. Additionally, the retiring Jim Jeffords will be replaced by Bernie Saunders, also an independent, but one who is expected to vote with the Democrats on procedural issues (his voting record in the House of Representatives is actually to the left of almost all Democrats').
6. This means that there will be at least forty-eight Republicans in the Senate after the election, at least forty-two Democrats, and at least one indepentent. This leaves nine seats that have a reasonable chance of changing hands: Montana, Missouri, Tennessee, Ohio, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. None of these races is sewn up by any one candidate at this point. All of them could be won by either party, except for Connecticut which is a race between Lieberman and Lamont. Republican incumbents in danger of losing their seats are Conrad Burns of Montana (first seated 1989), George Allen of Virginia (first seated 2001), Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania (first seated 1995), Jim Talent of Missouri (first seated 2002), Mike Dewine of Ohio (first seated 1995), and Lincoln Chaffee of Rhode Island (first seated 1999).
7. Treating Saunders as a Democrat, in order to gain control of the Senate the Democrats need to win at least eight of the nine contested seats. The X-factor is Connecticut, where even a Democratic loss could help the Democrats, if Lieberman continues to vote as a Democrat procedurally (and, all propoganda to the contrary, Lieberman would be a very peculiar fit for the Republican Party), which would reduce the number of seats that the Democrats actually need to win to seven.
Over the next few days, I will be providing some more in-depth coverage of several of these nine key races. As usual, I make no guarantee about how few days, how in-depth the coverage will be, or how many of the races will be covered.
WitPotS: Because reliability is for large, corporate-controlled media.
|
(This is funny.)
(So is this.)
For those of you who haven't been following the mid-term elections in the States, you should really start checking this daily. The story so far, as far as the Senate goes:
1. At dissolution, the standings were fifty-five Republicans, forty-four Democrats, and one independent (former Republican Jim Jeffords of Vermont, who was among the Senate's more liberal Senators and voted with Democrats on procedural questions).
2. Seats up for grabs include fifteen currently held by Republicans, sixteen currently held by Democrats, and Jeffords'.
3. Of the Republican seats, only Bill Frist of Tennessee is not seeking re-election. Of the fourteen Republicans up for re-election, only eight - Olympia Snowe of Maine, Richard Lugar of Indiana, Trent Lott of Mississippi, Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas, Craig Thomas of Wyoming, Orrin Hatch of Utah, John Ensign of Nevada, and John Kyl of Arizona - are expected to be re-elected without appreciable difficulty.
4. Of the sixteen Democratic seats, all incumbents except Minnesota's Mark Dayton and Maryland's Paul Sarbanes are seeking re-election. In addition, Joe Liberman of Connecticut is running as an independent after being defeated in the state's Democratic primary by Ned Lamont. Of the thirteen Democratic Senators running for re-election as Democrats, only New Jersey's Robert Menendez is facing a credible threat.
5. Of the five "open" seats (Tennessee, Minnesota, Maryland, Connecticut, and Vermont), Minnesota (Amy Klobuchar) and Maryland (Ben Cardin) are expected to go Democratic. Additionally, the retiring Jim Jeffords will be replaced by Bernie Saunders, also an independent, but one who is expected to vote with the Democrats on procedural issues (his voting record in the House of Representatives is actually to the left of almost all Democrats').
6. This means that there will be at least forty-eight Republicans in the Senate after the election, at least forty-two Democrats, and at least one indepentent. This leaves nine seats that have a reasonable chance of changing hands: Montana, Missouri, Tennessee, Ohio, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. None of these races is sewn up by any one candidate at this point. All of them could be won by either party, except for Connecticut which is a race between Lieberman and Lamont. Republican incumbents in danger of losing their seats are Conrad Burns of Montana (first seated 1989), George Allen of Virginia (first seated 2001), Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania (first seated 1995), Jim Talent of Missouri (first seated 2002), Mike Dewine of Ohio (first seated 1995), and Lincoln Chaffee of Rhode Island (first seated 1999).
7. Treating Saunders as a Democrat, in order to gain control of the Senate the Democrats need to win at least eight of the nine contested seats. The X-factor is Connecticut, where even a Democratic loss could help the Democrats, if Lieberman continues to vote as a Democrat procedurally (and, all propoganda to the contrary, Lieberman would be a very peculiar fit for the Republican Party), which would reduce the number of seats that the Democrats actually need to win to seven.
Over the next few days, I will be providing some more in-depth coverage of several of these nine key races. As usual, I make no guarantee about how few days, how in-depth the coverage will be, or how many of the races will be covered.
WitPotS: Because reliability is for large, corporate-controlled media.
