Could I get a cite for that? The Democrats, including both Clintons, campaigned for Lieberman in the primary, then endorsed Lamont after he won. I don’t know that they did anything to help Lamont after those first few days, when it became apparent that Lieberman wasn’t going to quit. Did they ever go to CT to appear with him?
The GOP leaders also understood that Schlesinger was a lost cause and not worth their effort. Why would they campaign for him when Republicans were so likely to prefer Lieberman over a Republican who was caught cheating in a casino?
Not sure about your reasoning here, John, but then, admittedly, my powers are somewhat under a cloud. It stands now at 49D, 47R, and 2I, yes? Its not so important how they might vote for this bill or that bill, but who gets to be on what committee and in what position. And that is huge stuff for a political animal. Stuff that “Little Joe” needs, craves, must have.
Besides, if he betrays the people who voted for him on his assurance that he would remain a Dem supporter, no one will trust him, left, right, or whatever.
Except for the fact that you need 51 votes to pass an organizing resolution. If the Republicans stick together and Lieberman joins them, they can do that with Cheney’s vote. The organizing resolution will say how many Senators of each party will be on committees, how much funding the minority/majority party staff on committees has, as well as which party sets the agenda for the floor.
So the Democrats need Lieberman to be able to organize the Senate so they control the agenda. Sure, they don’t need him to determine what committees he serves on, but if he were to throw his weight behind the GOP and ensure they could organize the Senate, they would reward him with plum seats from their allocation.
[url=]The Dems now have 48, including MT. The 2 Independents put them at 50. The Pubs have 49. If Webb wins, that puts the Dems at 49. They need both Independents to get to 51.
Yes, as several of us have already noted. That’s the main reason he’s not going to switch (other than the fact that he is a Democrat at heart).
Joe has pledged to caucus with the Democrats. Whatever can be said about him, I believe him to be an honest man. That being said, there is theoretically nothing stopping him from going back on his word and switching to the GOP.
Well, what about that other independent guy? Sanders from VT, right? A lefty independent, last I heard. I can see him moving in with the Dems, but what motivation might he possibly have to move with the Pubbies?
I still remain convinced that the only person Joe Lieberman cares about any more is Joe Lieberman. And given that Joe funded his campaign largely from out-of-state conservatives, I have to wonder how “independent” or “representative” he will be.
Question: Does Lieberman have to caucus with either party? What happens if he abstains from those procedural votes? Are 51 votes required to designate committee chairs, or would a 50-49 vote do? Coming from somewhere with 4 parties in our national legislative body along with the occasional independents who are truly that, independent of party affiliation, I’m a little bit confused by these implications that Joe must be in practice a member of one of the two parties.
I ask because to my mind not caucusing with the Democrats would be one thing, but caucusing with the Republicans would be quite another.
My understanding is that he does in that not affiliating with either party will completely shut him out of any committees and that’s where the action takes place.
Without being in a caucus, he just gets to show up to vote with the entire Senate about what the committees have hammered out.
Heard on the radio just now that “Little Joe” has affirmed his undying loyalty to the Democratic Party. Which means, assuming Webb holds on in VA, that the impossible has happened. I’m a pessimist, I love surprises.
Yeah, but that’s a pretty big assumption. Webb has a minuscule lead, and there’s no guarantee that absentee and provisional ballots won’t wipe that out. Does anybody know how many of either there are? Webb may well win, but assuming he will isn’t really any safer than assuming he won’t.
Yes, it does, but not by much. Clearly, this race was very, very close. Which means that any unknown quantity of votes, some unopened box in the back room is most likely to be just as evenly divided. If they find a box with 15,000 votes hidden inside, it is a very good bet that it is, roughly, 7,500 each. So what Allen must hope for is some unknown and uncounted quantity of votes that heavily favor him. Which is possible, of course, but less likely.
Reports I’ve seen say that a large number of absentee ballots were cast in NoVa, due in part to a concerted effort by Northern Virginia counties to remind commuters that they could cast them. So, if that’s the case, than the absentee ballots should break for Webb.
The latest results show Webb up by 7,316 votes. I don’t see the absentee and provisional ballots letting Allen catch up.
In the “For what it’s worth” column, I heard him talking to Sean Hannity on the radio this evening and he reaffirmed that he was caucusing with the Democrats. He gave a lot of “Watch me vote because I’ll have a lot of chances to display my independence” but as far as part affiliation, it won’t be changing.
He’s doing what any sane person in his position would do, given the Dems very likely have a majority in the Senate. One needn’t be a paragon of virtue to arrive where Lieberman has at this point. We can’t do the experiment where the Pubs edged out the Dems and Lieberman had harder choices to make, re. his promises.
