[AuH2ORepublican]

"Here's the rumor: Bunning has dementia, and if he wins, he will resign and Fletcher will appoint himself to the Senate seat."

---

Have you noticed that lately governors keep getting accused of wanting to name themselves to the Senate? Tony Knowles, Ed Rendell, Mitt Romney, now Fletcher. Has a governor ever named himself to the Senate? If so, who and when?

[fieldmarshaldj]

"Has a governor ever named himself to the Senate? If so, who and when?"

There has been a number of them since the founding of our nation (even when the legislature was electing Senators). The confusion tends to be whether they were "technically" appointed by themselves or whether they resigned and "instructed" the next person in line to the Governorship to "do the deed." Folks like NM Gov Edwin Mechem come to mind (appointed himself in '62), but he lost in the following election. SC Gov Donald Russell did the same in 1965, but lost renomination to Ernest Hollings the following year. In the case of Russell & Mechem, both sounded the death knell on their political careers (however both would be rewarded with judicial appointments later). I can't imagine why Fletcher would want to bail out so quickly if Bunning resigned, has he grown so weary of the job after not even a year ?