Posts tagged United States Senate

Replacing a Replacement

10
3 months ago
by dcpetterson in
U.S. Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts

About to have replace­ment replaced

With John Kerry’s con­fir­ma­tion as Sec­re­tary of State, a seat opened in the U.S. Sen­ate. Mass­a­chu­setts Gov­er­nor Deval Patrick named his for­mer chief of staff, William “Mo” Cowan, as his interim replace­ment, and he was sworn in on Feb­ru­ary 7, cre­ated a record two (2) African Amer­i­cans in the Sen­ate at the same time.

A spe­cial elec­tion will be held June 25 to choose a “per­ma­nent” replace­ment for the five-​​term Sen­a­tor Kerry. It isn’t really very per­ma­nent, because it will only fill out Kerry’s cur­rent term, which expires after the 2014 midterms. In other words, there will be yet another elec­tion for that seat next year.

Here is a brief run­down of some can­di­dates who have so far declared their inten­tion to run in the June spe­cial elec­tion. (more…)

The Longest Day

84
4 months ago
by Michael Weiss in

“Will this day ever end?”

In most parts of the United States, the longest day is in late June. But in a small cor­ner of our nation, today, Jan­u­ary 3, is the longest day. What, you think it’s Jan­u­ary 22? Maybe where you are, but inside the Sen­ate Cham­ber of the United States Capi­tol, it’s still Jan­u­ary 3. And, remark­ably, Sen­ate Major­ity Leader Harry Reid (D-​​NV) can keep the cal­en­dar on Jan­u­ary 3 for as long as he wants, by sim­ply fail­ing to adjourn for the day.

See, Jan­u­ary 3, 2013, is the first day of the 113th Con­gress. And on the first day of the new Con­gress, the rules can be changed with a sim­ple major­ity vote. Reid has promised to change the Sen­ate rules for fil­i­bus­ter­ing, but that requires a major­ity of Sen­a­tors to approve the changes.

The goal here isn’t to elim­i­nate the fil­i­buster alto­gether. I sup­pose there are many Democ­rats who would be happy with that approach (at least until Repub­li­cans gain a major­ity in the Sen­ate), but the Sen­a­tors them­selves, of both par­ties, want to keep the fil­i­buster around. With­out the fil­i­buster, the power of each Sen­a­tor isn’t much greater than that of each Rep­re­sen­ta­tive. But with the fil­i­buster, a small num­ber of Sen­a­tors can stop any leg­is­la­tion. It’s a tremen­dous power to have, and one that few are likely to give up quietly.

It’s worth not­ing that the fil­i­buster wasn’t cre­ated; it came about as an acci­dent of his­tory. (more…)

Election Watch: Election Day

109
6 months ago
by Michael Weiss in ,

Here we are, at the end of the road for so many cam­paigns. And it’s the time when I deliver my final predictions.

As with Sat­ur­day, I’m start­ing with early vot­ing. Like Sat­ur­day, this edi­tion includes a sec­tion on the guber­na­to­r­ial races. After that, I delve into the Sen­ate, fol­lowed by the Pres­i­den­tial race. I’m drop­ping the other exter­nal fac­tors, as they should all be priced into the polls by now.

That said, Hur­ri­cane Sandy could have an impact on turnout. But with no prece­dent upon which to draw, it’s anybody’s guess as to what the impact will be.

(more…)

Election Watch: November 3

205
6 months ago
by Michael Weiss in ,

We’re but three days away from Elec­tion Day, and this is my last Sat­ur­day edi­tion of these Watches. My final edi­tion will run on Tues­day, Elec­tion Day, when I will deliver my final predictions.

As with last Tues­day, I’ll start by look­ing at the ele­ments that cross offices. Unlike Tues­day, this edi­tion includes a sec­tion on the guber­na­to­r­ial races. After that, I delve into the Sen­ate, fol­lowed by the Pres­i­den­tial race.

(more…)

Election Watch: October 30

376
6 months ago
by Michael Weiss in ,

We’re but a week away from Elec­tion Day, and that means it’s time once again to step up the fre­quency of the Watches. Start­ing today, I am com­bin­ing the Reëlec­tion and Sen­ate watches into a sin­gle arti­cle, which will run today, Sat­ur­day, and Elec­tion Day, when I will deliver my final predictions.

This makes today’s arti­cle far length­ier than usual, but packed with nutri­tional data. And tasty, too.

I’ll start by look­ing at the ele­ments that cross offices, and then delve into the Sen­ate, fol­lowed by the Pres­i­den­tial race.  (more…)

Senate Watch: October 23

22
7 months ago
by Michael Weiss in

Time is run­ning out, and so the mar­gins of Tossups and Leans shrink yet again.

Here is the cur­rent map:

As always, “Con­tin­u­ing” refers to the seats in Sen­ate Classes 2 and 3, which are not up for elec­tion this cycle. And, also as always, the details are below the fold.

(more…)

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