Posted on 11/18/2008 7:14:27 PM PST by amchugh
The Democratic Anchorage mayor widened his lead to 3,724 votes in today's counting of absentee and questioned ballots. The only votes left to count are approximately 2,500 special absentees from people living outside the U.S. or in remote parts of Alaska with no polling place.
(Excerpt) Read more at adn.com ...
So if I count correctly, there are now 58 confirmed Democrats in the Senate.
Two more races are still out. Chambliss in Georgia is in a runoff election on Dec. 2nd, and Norm Coleman in Minnesota is trying to keep Al Franken and his boys from stealing that re-count in their election.
Make that 61 when you throw in the liberal RINOS, and that's without counting the other two races.
Franken will steal MN. They keep ‘finding’ piles of new votes and are demanding that they be counted. Eventually they’ll find some judge who will agree.. It is going to come down to GA.
I think of Stevens is like George Allen (VA), who took a sure thing and screwed it up with his corruption (Stevens) or ineptness (Allen).
In the mean time, what about the cowards Domenici, Warner (Republican), or Allard? Warner and Domenici are older than dirt, but what was Allard’s excuse? Cut and run Republicans, all of them.
I suspect Allard would have been defeated if he ran. He used his own term limit I guess. If only Warner, Stevens, and Domenici had done that after only 12 years! They might have been replaced with other Republicans at a time when the party was still competitive in their states. Now sadly I have to wonder if we will see a GOP Senate majority again in my lifetime. Only if Obama screws up really badly can the Dems lose enough seats in the next 2 or 3 cycles.
The GOP was in the minority in the House for *40 YEARS* until Newt came along. And most Republicans were quite content in the minority. Comfy job with lots of perks, but no real responsibilities to go with it. I think Bob Michel went around playing golf and drinking Tip O’Neil all the time.
Allard had a self-imposed two term pledge.
Allard was a man of his word. Unlike others who say they will serve only a limited time, he actually meant it. Unfortunately it was bad for the party and the country. You think he could have won again? With the tide in CO and the rest of the country I think he might have gone down. His margin in ‘02 was fairly narrow in a good Republican year. I guess Domenici and Warner would have been favored, even at their advanced ages, but you never know. Two years ago I don’t think anyone thought Dole, Chambliss, or McConnell would be in close races.
If any of those old guys (including Stevens ) had been smart and retired in ‘02, or ‘96, there was a good chance they could have been succeeded by other Republicans. Instead they stayed way past their prime and had to quit in the worst year for the GOP. What a disaster.
It is hard to say. The Dems had “first tier” challengers in the states you mention. If the incumbents had run again, they may have passed on the challenge.
Martin in GA was considered a Second Tier candidate for example... if a First Tier Georgia Democrat took up the challenge, Chambliss may have been toast.
In 2010, the GOP will be defending more seats than Dems... so it will be an uphill fight again. On the other hand, there will be open contests in DE and IL. If Obama does poorly, a backlash against Obama and Biden’s appointed successors would be likely.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.