Posted on 11/09/2006 5:56:19 AM PST by areafiftyone
WASHINGTON -- Democrats wrested control of the Senate from Republicans Wednesday with an upset victory in Virginia, giving the party complete domination of Capitol Hill for the first time since 1994.
Jim Webb's squeaker win over incumbent Sen. George Allen gave Democrats their 51st seat in the Senate, an astonishing turnabout at the hands of voters unhappy with Republican scandal and unabated violence in Iraq. Allen was the sixth Republican incumbent senator defeated in Tuesday's elections.
The Senate had teetered at 50 Democrats, 49 Republicans for most of Wednesday, with Virginia hanging in the balance. Webb's victory ended Republican hopes of eking out a 50-50 split, with Vice President Dick Cheney wielding tie-breaking authority.
The Associated Press contacted election officials in all 134 localities where voting occurred, obtaining updated numbers Wednesday. About half the localities said they had completed their postelection canvassing and nearly all had counted outstanding absentees. Most were expected to be finished by Friday.
The new AP count showed Webb with 1,172,538 votes and Allen with 1,165,302, a difference of 7,236. Virginia has had two statewide vote recounts in modern history, but both resulted in vote changes of no more than a few hundred votes.
An adviser to Allen, speaking on condition of anonymity because his boss had not formally decided to end the campaign, said the senator wanted to wait until most of canvassing was completed before announcing his decision, possibly as early as Thursday evening.
The adviser said that Allen was disinclined to request a recount if the final vote spread was similar to that of election night.
If I were a complete cynic, my thought would be that there's some really nasty stuff in his past that he's afraid would come out in a Presidential campaign, so he's not going to take the chance.
He's still relatively young, isn't he? Because my next thought would be that someone (Hillary) has told him it's in his best interest to sit this one out and wait a bit.
Is that for certain about Pence? I was never in favor of his run for the W.H. (yet anyway). But so far, he does appear to be one of the uncorrupted ones.
And you're an outward troll who just signed up today.
Warner's pretty young. And yeah, it's plausible that Hillary told him to wait his turn. And in reality, his daughthers will be adults if he waits for the next cycle.
I won't claim to know his motive. But AFAIK, he has not denied the rumors that are all over the place.
IMHO we lost the Senate the day Coleman lost out to Dole as head of NRSC and our leadership in the Senate did not stand with Dr. Coburn on cutting pork and were spineless when it came to Dem attacks. Cannot believe we lost Allen and still have Warner.
so did Richard Nixon in California
This is why I will crawl over broken glass to get to the polls ON ELECTION DAY.
They got TWO this time. Control of the Senate SHOULD be 49-49-2,with ties broken by Cheney, but Sanders and Lieberman, though they both ran as Independents, are now counting themselves as Democrats so as to seize control.
The Dole's are the beltway country club senate weaklings that CONSISTENTLY screw the Republican party.
The Doles have a minority party mentality. It is the same with trent lott.
With so many RINO's out, how many republicans will be able to stand up and filibuster? Will they shut down government?
Will they just rolle over on AMNESTY!?
Amnesty with form work, is still amnesty.
You have Senators Inhofe and Coburn from OK who can filibuster with the best of them along with Cornyn, Chambliss, Shelby, Sessions, Coleman, and others who can talk for hours if they had to as I have seen Senator Inhofe do just that. Our Conservative Senators will come through because the group I just mentioned are not weak kneed conservatives -- they have spines.
Some thoughts and musings:
- When the (R) first took over the Senate, how long did it take the MSM to start questioning them and begin putting them on the defensive? Anyone care to take a guess on how long it's going to take the MSM to do likewise to (D) this time around?
- Like Clinton (for actually 6 of the 8 years he 'reigned', with the Senate R-55/D-45, House R-230/D-205), will Bush take on the 'very powerful' Democrat majorities in the Senate (51-49) and House (232-203) this time around?
- Will Bush 'dust-off' his M.O. from the Texas years as Governor when he happily 'worked with' a Texas (D) controlled House and Senate?
-
I think Allen comes across as a buffoon. A sort of caricature of the "Southern" man. We dont need that in 2008.
I'm livid! George Allen gives a very gracious conscesion speech. What do we hear from Jim Webb?
He says from the outset he made a promise to not run a negative campaign and he actually had the stones to call on the PRESIDENT to put a stop to negative campaigning.
Damn him. He could have been most gracious, but he's a first class clymer.
I have GOT to take a vacation!!!!!!
LOL Don't let the Larry Flint body double get to you.
He's a complete and total A$$.
Don't worry; now George will have more time to run for POTUS!!!
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