According to AP, Jim Webb has ousted the ghastly George Allen (R-VA) from his Senate seat (as well as any hope he ever had of becoming president). (Hat tip: alert commenter Sharoney – update: whoops! Kathy had it too.) AP collected vote counts from local officials and assembled an updated total showing Webb leading by more than 7,000 votes. While that’s still a small percentage of the total of more than 2 million cast, no statewide recount in modern Virginia history (there have been two) has changed a result by more than a few hundred votes, so it seems highly unlikely that a recount would change the result here. Allen is reportedly going to announce his plans sometime tomorrow, and is “disinclined to request a recount if the final vote spread was similar to that of election night.”
If the Webb and Tester victories hold, and assuming that Joe Lieberman caucuses with the Democrats, then Dems control the Senate 51-49.
UPDATE: MSNBC has also called VA for Webb! It’s morning in America [- Bob]
(in my best Homer imitation)
If that isn’t a good reason to buy a new bottle of Scotch tomorrow, I don’t know what is.
I never thought that the Dems would take the Senate, but here it is. Allen, Santorum, Burns, gone.
Hooray!
I wish I could have been a fly on the wall in the Oval Office when the news came down. HA!
but the Webb win is just delicious irony; Former Navy Undersecretary to Ronald frickin Regan gives the Democrats control of the Senate. Unbelievable.
I think Lieberman is too power-hungry: he’s going to want to be on the winning side, and if he goes Republican then it’s a split and no one’s a winner. I suspect he’s going to drive a hard bargain with Democratic leadership, and go that way.
Already confirmed that he was going to caucus with the Dems
One of the commentators (not Michael Capuano) said that he’s pretty sure Liberman “knows which side his bread is buttered on,” meaning that he’ll likely stick with the Dems.
I think it is clear that Lieberman (and Sanders for that matter) will caucus with the Democrats this January. This will give Dems the key 51-49 vote margin and makes the outcome in the Virginia race so, so sweet.
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But let’s be clear about what a 50-50 split would mean in the Senate. Cheney would break the tie and Republicans would remain in control. The only truly important thing is who gets to be Majority Leader since they get to name a member of their party as Chair of every single Commmittee. A 50-50 split (as occured in 2000, prior to Jeffords’ defection) means the party of the VP is in control not that “no one’s a winner.”
Lieberman won’t bolt the party unless really insulted. He is a Dem, he’s just religious, and has been a hawk… but he’s socially moderate to liberal, and economically modestly liberal.
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He’s pro stem cell research, pro-life (although feels they should be rare, as I think we all do), opposed late term abortion ban, opposed tax cuts for the wealthy, pro-environment, opposes flag burning amendement, etc.
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http://ontheissues.o…
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Not that I didn’t want to see him go down in flames – my parents, still in Ct, voted for Lamont – but he’s not a Republican on anything other than maybe the war.
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What this does mean in the leadership can’t punish him – by taking away chairmanships – without risking pushing him away. They have to play nice and give him what his service has earned (if not his recent actions).
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But fine, elections are elections, and now we’re on to governing, and Joe in a Dem. Besides, if he did that, he could never show his face in Ct again.
In this article in the Hartford Courant today, Lieberman again pledges to stay a Dem:
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http://www.courant.c…
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At the top he talks about seniority, but realize that this is a Ct paper and therefore it’s focusing on how it will help Ct.
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From the article:
“There is a little playfulness in me that wants me to make a joke about that, but it’s too serious. The answer is no,” he said. “When I give my word I stick with it, and I am definitely going to organize with the Senate Democrats.”
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He said he delivered that message Wednesday in a phone conversation with the Senate Democratic leader, Harry Reid of Nevada. He did not take Reid’s call on election night.
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I do think he will vote his conscious on various bills, and that will mean we will lose his vote on some issues, but we’ll probably pull moderate Republicans (Snowe comes to mind, several others) on a lot of things too. He won’t be a reliable Dem vote, but he will be a Dem, and that’s whats most important.
This election was just about perfect! Deval sweeps Massachusetts, the Democrats take the House and the Senate…the only thing that could have made it even better is if we could have repudiated and replaced George W. Oh, well, there’s always 2008!
…as Senate tiebreaker, I mean — is even better than impeachment. What will the dummy say, now that the ventriloquist has his hands tied and his mouth taped over?