WASHINGTON - Democrats came up just short of a winning a filibuster-proof majority of 60 in the 100-member Senate in last November’s election.  But they may do it in next year’s contest — thanks largely to a rising number of Senate Republicans calling it quits.

George Voinovich – a highly respected, two-term moderate — on Monday became the fourth Senate Republican to announce he won’t seek reelection in 2010.

Voinovich’s decision followed earlier such announcements by Republican Sens. Sam Brownback of Kansas, Mel Martinez of Florida and Kit Bond of Missouri.

So far, there’s been no official word that any of the Democrats up for reelection next year won’t seek another term — though Vice President-elect Joe Biden’s pending Senate replacement is expected to step aside in 2010. That would open the way for an anticipated run by Biden’s son Beau Biden, Delaware’s attorney general.

Traditionally, Senate incumbents have a number of advantages over challengers, including name recognition and the ability to raise money.

Voinovich, who next year will mark his 74th birthday and 44th year in public office, said it’s time for him to move on.

“I still have the fire in my belly to do the work of our nation, but after serving the next two years, it will be time to step back,” Voinovich said in a statement.

Democrats now have 57 seats in the Senate, and may soon hit 59. A legal challenge is expected to be decided within weeks of Democrat Al Franken’s razor-close victory in Minnesota.

And Democrats hope to soon resolve a dispute over embattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s appointment of Roland Burris to fill the seat vacated by President-Elect Barack Obama.

Democrats have resisted seating Burris because Blagojevich is accused of having earlier tried to sell the seat. But with the blessing of Obama, they seem to be determined to soon reach an “amicable solution.”

Photo Credit: Reuters/Mannie Garcia (Sen. George Voinovich with President George W. Bush in 2004)

WASHINGTON - Women are set to make history next month in the 220-year-old U.S. Senate.

For the first time since the Senate opened its doors in 1789, a pair of female lawmakers are in line to lead one of the chamber’s full committees.

Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana is set to chair the Small Business Committee and Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine is positioned to serve as the panel’s top Republican.

“It is a distinguished honor to join Senator Landrieu during this historic moment that will further empower women to pursue leadership roles within our country,” Snowe said.

To be sure, men dominate the Senate and American politics. But women have made big and high-profile gains in recent years.

At least 16 women will be U.S. senators next year, perhaps 17 depending on who succeeds Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York.

Clinton, who barely lost the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, will surrender her Senate seat after her anticipated confirmation next month as Barack Obama’s secretary of state.

Among the contenders to replace Clinton is another woman, Caroline Kennedy, daughter of former President John F. Kennedy and a niece of Sen. Edward Ted Kennedy.

REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque (women U.S. senators in January 2007)

REUTERS/Brian Snyder (Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg listens at a Harvard event)

WASHINGTON - The Bush dynasty in Washington may not be over just yet.

Even as President George W. Bush is packing his bags to head to Texas after eight years in the White House, he is stirring up a little political curiosity about his “little” brother Jeb possibly running for the U.S. Senate seat in Florida.

In an interview with the blog RealClearPolitics published this week, President Bush was asked if Jeb Bush, the former governor of Florida, would be part of comeback by Republicans in 2010 after a drubbing in the last two congressional elections.

“He would be an awesome U.S. senator,” Bush replied. The seat up in 2010 is being vacated by Republican Sen. Mel Martinez who decided earlier this month not to run for another term.

Political analysts expect the Florida race to be one of the most competitive and he would join a few other potential family dynasty extensions if Caroline Kennedy is picked for the New York Senate seat Hillary Clinton is vacating soon, and then runs in 2010, and if Vice President-elect Joe Biden’s son Beau runs for his father’s seat.

Jeb Bush is considering a run but is not expected to make a decision before the end of the year. Pushed about whether Republicans need him in the race, the president of course threw his support to his sibling.

“I think the party would benefit a lot by having Jeb Bush in the U.S. Senate,” Bush said. “I think Florida would benefit a lot. I think the country would benefit a lot. And I think the Republican Party would benefit a lot. He is a proven leader who, when given responsibilities, succeeded.”

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- Photo credit: Reuters/Kevin Lamarque (The Bush men together after christening an aircraft carrier named after President George H.W. Bush in 2006.)

Posted by Michael Peltier and Thomas Ferraro

WASHINGTON — Republican Mel Martinez of Florida — a Cuban immigrant who says he lived “The American Dream” — is calling it quits as a member of the U.S. Senate.

Having narrowly won a first term in 2004 and facing an anticipated tough re-election in 2010, Martinez announced on Tuesday he will not run for a second term.

“The inescapable truth, for me, is that the call to public service is strong — but the call to home, family and lifelong friends is even stronger,” Martinez said in a statement that he read at a news conference in Orlando, Florida, and was also released in Washington.

Martinez made his declaration almost a month after the Nov. 4 elections that saw Democrats expand their majorities in Senate and House of Representatives, largely because of the unpopularity of outgoing Republican President George W. Bush and the worst economic crisis since The Great Depression.

Martinez is the second U.S. senator up for re-election in 2010 who has announced he will not seek another term. The other is Sam Brownback of Kansas, who’s also a Republican. Both plan to complete their six-year terms before leaving.

Thirty-five seats of the 100 Senate seats will be up for grabs in two years, 16 of them held by Democrats, 19 by Republicans.

The nonpartisan Cook Political Report, which tracks congressional races, had listed Martinez as among the most vulnerable incumbents. It had called his race as a “tossup.”

Martinez, 62, came to the United States at age 15, graduated from college, earned a law degree and ended up getting elected to the Senate after serving in Bush’s Cabinet as secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

“We proved the American Dream is alive and well,” Martinez said. He said his decision not to seek another term was personal, not political.

“Some might try to characterize this decision in terms of political affairs. Some will say a re-election campaign would have been too difficult. But I’ve faced much tougher odds in political campaigns and in life. My decision was not based on reelection prospects, but on what I want to do with the next eight years of my life,” the senator said.

Democrats and Republicans are certain to move quickly in a search for possible candidates to replace him.

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- Photo credit: Reuters/Robert Galbraith (Martinez speaks during the Republican National Convention in September.)

WASHINGTON - In yet another television interview, former Republican vice presidential hopeful Sarah Palin revealed on Wednesday that while she was focused on her job as Alaska’s governor she was open to the idea of a Senate bid.

While at first saying it was “not necessarily” the kind of post she would like some day, she was open to the idea.

“I’m not going to close any doors that perhaps would be in front of me and would allow me to put to good use executive experience and a world view that I think is good for our nation,” she said in an interview with CNN’s “Larry King Live.” “I’m not going to close any door there in terms of opportunity that may be there in the future.”

Just a day ago, in an interview on NBC the 44-year-old first-term governor said she wasn’t planning on seeking a Senate seat. “I’m not planning on it because I think the people of Alaska will best be served with me as their governor,” Palin said.

In the CNN interview, Palin said she did not believe she cost presidential hopeful John McCain any votes because of her performance or other incidents along the campaign trail, but if that was the case she was sorry about it.

“If I hurt the ticket at all, and cost John McCain even one vote, I am sorry about it because John McCain is a true American hero,” she said.

Palin has blanketed the television airwaves since she and McCain lost last week, and is planning to talk again with reporters at the Republican Governors Association annual conference in Miami on Thursday.

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- Photo credit: Reuters/Mike Blake (Palin and McCain on election night.)

ANCHORAGE - Gov. Sarah Palin has gone home to Alaska, but her return to the national political stage may come sooner than the 2012 U.S. presidential campaign.

If Republican Sen. Ted Stevens maintains his slim lead over Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich, it could once again thrust Palin into the spotlight. The 84-year-old Stevens could be re-elected for an eighth term despite being convicted of corruption last month. His conviction prompted calls for his resignation from Republican presidential candidate John McCain and Palin, his running mate. Stevens has vowed to fight on even though a convicted felon has never served in the U.S. Senate.

The conviction came a week before election day — too late to replace the longest-serving Republican on ballots in Alaska. If Stevens wins the election and then relinquishes his seat, that’s when things could get interesting.

It would force a special election 60 to 90 days from the time the vacancy occurs. Alaska’s Division of Elections said Palin would make a temporary appointment to hold the seat until a new senator is chosen by special election. One candidate being discussed in Alaska’s Republican circles? Yes, the governor herself.  If Palin doesn’t take that step, she could also play the role of kingmaker and hand a political ally the tag of incumbent heading into the special election.

There is some debate over whether Palin has the right to temporarily appoint a person to the Senate. Proponents of a citizen initiative passed in 2004 said that measure stripped the governor of the right to make Senate appointments — even temporary ones. The initiative was passed after then-Gov. Frank Murkowski appointed his daughter Lisa to the Senate seat he vacated to become Alaska governor.

Palin, who returned to Alaska Wednesday night, seems to have retracted her earlier call for Stevens to resign. Speaking to reporters at the Anchorage international airport, Palin said: “The people of Alaska just spoke. They said that they want him as their senator.”

Well, not every Alaskan has spoken yet. At last count, there are still at least 70,000 ballots to be counted and Begich is trailing by about 3,000 votes. If “Uncle Ted” can pull this out, we might hear from “Sarah Barracuda” sooner than we thought.

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Photo credit: Reuters/Mike Blake (Palin waves to crowd after McCain delivered his concession speech in Phoenix on Nov. 4)

WASHINGTON - When the voting ends in Tuesday’s presidential election, the campaigning will just begin for one and possibly two Senate seats.

That’s because whoever wins the White House, one or two Senate vacancies will be created.

If Democratic Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois is victorious, he will have to vacate his Senate seat, as will his vice presidential running mate Joseph Biden of Delaware. If Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona scores a come-from-behind White House win, he’ll do the same.

Replacements for any of the three men will probably be up to three Democratic governors: Rod Blagojevich in Illinois, Janet Napolitano in Arizona and probably Ruth Ann Minner in Delaware.

Minner leaves office on the day the next president and vice president are to be sworn in, Jan. 20. It’s unclear whether she or her successor would fill a Biden vacancy since it’s not certain when Delaware’s new governor will take office that day.

Regardless, the governors’ decisions are not likely to have any impact on the political makeup of the Senate. Minner and Blagojevich likely would name Democrats if they have to replace Obama and Biden, while Arizona state law requires Napolitano to choose someone in the same party as the predecessor, in this case a Republican.

All of the appointments would be for two years. Among the possibilities in each state:

Illinois: Reps. Jesse Jackson, Jr. and Janice Schakowsky; Iraq war veteran Tammy Duckworth, who narrowly lost a 2006 House race; and Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan.

Delaware: Biden’s son, Delaware Attorney General Joseph “Beau” Biden. He’s currently serving National Guard duty in Iraq, which could be problematic.

Arizona: Gov. Napolitano must name a Republican and ex-Rep. Jim Kolbe is among those who have been mentioned. When he retired from Congress in 2006, he was the only openly gay Republican in the House. In 2010, Napolitano could challenge whoever she appoints, as she reportedly has her eye on the Senate seat.

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- Photo credit: Reuters/Brian Snyder

WASHINGTON - There wasn’t a “You’re no Jack Kennedy” moment at the first presidential debate of 2008. But there were several lines both White House hopefuls kept using throughout the evening as a way of getting in subtle and not-so-subtle digs at each other.
 
By our count, Democratic contender Barack Obama mentioned the unpopular President George W. Bush 10 times over the course of the 97-minute debate, trying to suggest Republican rival John McCain would represent the same as the last eight years.
 
“John mentioned me being wildly liberal. Mostly that’s just me opposing George Bush’s wrong headed policies since I’ve been in Congress,” the Illinois senator said.
 
McCain had his own way of using words to undercut his rival, focusing on Obama’s four years in the U.S. Senate versus his 22 years in the legislative body. 

He said seven different times that Obama just didn’t understand a range of issues, from strategy in Iraq to the recent conflict between Russia and Georgia.
 
“Well, I was interested in Senator Obama’s reaction to the Russian aggression against Georgia.  His first statement was, ‘Both sides ought to show restraint,’” McCain said. “Again, a little bit of naivete there. “He doesn’t understand that Russia committed serious aggression against Georgia.”
 
Obama on nine occasions said that McCain was right on various issues — sometimes in praising him but also sometimes just agreeing with a comment.  He agreed that McCain was correct about the surge of troops in Iraq dramatically cutting down violence, and he agreed that presidents had to be prudent in what they said.

Obama also said McCain was wrong on at least three occasions.

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage. 

Photo credit: Reuters/Jim Bourg (McCain and Obama pass each other on stage at debate)