Take Number four off of the list, since we won Oregon late last night.Senate
Democrats have 54 seats, Republicans 40, and Independents 2. There are four remaining campaigns:
- We are tailing in Alaska, and it doesn't look good. Probably one for Republicans. Something strange happened in Alaska.
- Georgia will have a run-off. Four more weeks of campaigning for Jim Martin.
- Minnesota is headed to a recount. Right now, Coleman leads by 694 votes, with all precincts reporting. The provisional ballots, which always favor Democrats, will come into play as well. Not over by a longshot. AP already retracted their call for Coleman. Recount and certification will take at least two weeks.
- Oregon is close, but seems like it will be OK.
If we win Georgia, Minnesota and Oregon, we get the Employee Free Choice Act. However, we need all three. Right now, I think we are only the favorite in one (Oregon). I can see pulling off one upset, but both will be difficult.
The depressing point that Bowers makes about the Employee Free Choice Act is one that I was getting ready to write about anyway, but it doesn't look good. Short of 57 seats (Plus two Is and Specter, who supports EFCA), I'm afraid it just isn't going to happen. Labor will make a hard push, but if there's any bill that will bring out the Fillibuster, it's this one. Big business is spending over 100 million dollars to kill this bill, and it's not like most Democrats have shown particular fortitude in standing up for the working class when they know a big fight is ahead.
Then again, with Georgia heading to a runoff and Minnesota going to a recount, those fights aren't over yet. And as KG taught us: ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE!!!!!!!!
Nightmare scenario: Stevens vacates his seat by going to jail; Alaska has a special election in which Pail runs and wins. In case anyone is missing blog posts about Palin, here's today's post from Center for American Progress:
ReplyDeletePOLITICS -- PALIN 'DIDN'T UNDERSTAND THAT AFRICA WAS A CONTINENT': Fox News's Carl Cameron reported last night on the latest revelations in the strained relationship between Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) during their campaign for the White House. According to Cameron, Palin had "real problems with basic civics, government structures, municipal, state, and federal government responsibilities. She didn't know the nations involved in the North American Free Trade Agreement." More astonishingly, Palin "didn't understand...that Africa was a continent and not a country" and asked senior McCain aides "if South Africa wasn't just part of the country as opposed to a country in the continent." In addition, Newsweek reports that Palin spent far more on clothing than the $150,000 reported last month. According to a preview by Politico's Mike Allen, "McCain's top advisers privately fumed at what they regarded as her outrageous profligacy." The New York Times reports today that "one of the last straws for the McCain advisers" in their strained relationship with Palin came just days before the election when Palin took a call from whom she thought was French President Nicolas Sarkozy but was actually a prank by Canadian radio hosts.
You would think bringing to light such extreme examples of how misinformed and ignorant someone is would deter people from electing said person who appears so uneducated. Then again George W. Bush is still and has been our President for the past EIGHT years. ON that note the Alaska scenario seems more plausible than a nightmarish scenario. Personally, I blame Wasilla public schools.
ReplyDelete@Helen: That is simply terrifying, and very, very possible. On the bright side, Sarah Palin divides the GOP as good as anyone who I've seen recently, and the Neanderthal portion of their base is clinging to her for hope. The more powerful those morons are, the less chance there is of the GOP becoming a national party ever again.
ReplyDelete@nimsofa: THE WASILLA MAYOR DOESN'T CONTROL THE SCHOOLS! IT'S NOT HER FAULT! DIDN'T YOU SEE THE DAILY SHOW EXPOSE!
For those of you who follow the state level, we now have 17 states with a Democratic trifecta and 33 states with 2/3rds Democratic control. This means that 67% of people in the US live in states that are democratically controlled, and 325 live in states with a trifecta. Even with new openings at the federal level, much progressive innovation takes place at the state level. There is a good round up on the Progressive States Network site.
ReplyDeleteSorry - it's 32% that live in states with a trifecta.
ReplyDelete@JJ, I never said I was blaming Gov. Palin for Wasilla's public schools. I was more inferring the schools in Wasilla were/are responsible for molding her as a well informed public official...and, kinda unintentionally blaming them for George W. Bush. But, I don't see how I could justify that connection with any kind of direct causation.
ReplyDelete