Yesterday, voters in Georgia went back to the polls in a runoff election for Senator -- either Republican incumbant Saxby Chamblis or Democratic challenger Jim Martin. During the November 4th election, neither had reached the 50-percent threshold required in their three-way race with a Libertarian candidate.
And, unfortunately, yesterday they reelected Chambliss.
Chambliss is they guy who in 2002 defeated Max Cleland by running ads implying that Cleland (who lost three limbs in Vietnam) would be soft on terrorism.
So now the Dems have a 58-seat majority in the Senate (if you count "Traitor Joe" Lieberman). They'll be at 59 if Al Franken wins his Minnesota race, where a recount is taking place which could drag on for weeks. In any case, there is now no chance this year of achieving the 60 seats they need to be filibuster-proof.
But, regardless of the outcome, we're still in a pretty good position to finally legislate for positive change, especially if the Republican moderates will vote with their conscience.
That assumes, of course, that the Dems will realize that having Obama in the White House and 58 (or 59) seats in the Senate means that they don't have to be such wimps anymore.
No comments:
Post a Comment