McCain deeply regrets Lieberman decision to retire
Republican Senator John McCain has traveled the world as part of a “three amigos” group with Senate colleagues Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham, and he is sad that Lieberman plans to retire when his term expires in 2012.
McCain told us in a telephone interview that Lieberman told him that after 40 years in politics, “every once in a while you just get a little tired.”
Lieberman was Democrat Al Gore’s vice presidential nominee in 2000. In 2008, he backed McCain over Barack Obama and campaigned for him extensively.
“He’s truly not only an independent spirit but he goes where he thinks it’s best for the country. When he supported me there was no upside to that politically, none. And I will consider it one of the great honors of my life,” McCain said.
McCain said that while Lieberman faced a tough re-election fight, he believed he could have won “because he has such a deep reservoir of goodwill in Connecticut.”
“I’m sure he’ll contribute enormously in the future. I’m sure he’ll be called on, on a lot of national security issues,” McCain said.
Photo credit: Reuters/Mike Segar (Lieberman announces he won’t seek re-election)
Republican Mike Castle seeks Biden’s old Senate seat; Will Biden’s son run too?
Republican Mike Castle ended months of speculation on Tuesday by saying he will run to fill U.S. Vice President Joe Biden’s unexpired Senate term from Delaware.
The announcement raised again the questions: Will Biden’s son, Beau, run for it, too? And if so, when will Beau announce?
Beau Biden recently returned from a nearly year-long deployment in Iraq as a member of the Delaware National Guard. He is back at his job as Delaware’s elected attorney general.
The younger Biden has been widely expected to seek the Senate seat ever since his dad vacated it to become vice president. The seat is now held by Ted Kaufman, a former Joe Biden staffer, who has said he will not run to finish the term that expires in 2014.
A campaign between Beau Biden and Castle — a nine-term member of the U.S. House of Representatives and a former Delaware governor — would likely set up one of the most hotly contested and expensive Senate races in the nation.
Stakes are high.
The contest will help determine if Democrats retain their 60-vote majority in the 100-member Senate — one big enough to clear Republican procedural hurdles.
Democrats seem certain to retain Kennedy’s Senate seat
If history and emotion are any indication, Democrats seem certain to retain Edward Kennedy’s Senate seat, which the Massachusetts liberal held for nearly a half century before succumbing last week to brain cancer.
Political analysts note that Massachusetts has traditionally voted Democratic, including in last year’s U.S. presidential election. The last time Massachusetts elected a Republican to the Senate was 1972 when it gave Edward Brooke a second six-year term.
Analysts also point out that Kennedy’s death created a tidal wave of emotion, one that his party will likely ride to victory in a special election to replace him.
Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick announced on Monday that the special election would be held on Jan. 19 and he also made a plug for one of Kennedy’s final pleas — that state law be changed to allow for the governor to appoint an interim senator until a special election is held.
If the governor is permitted to name a temporary successor to Kennedy, the new senator would become the sixth appointed rather than elected lawmaker in the 100-member Senate.
If Democrats keep Kennedy’s old seat, they would potentially retain the 60 votes needed to clear Republican procedural roadblocks. But the Senate Democratic caucus has already split on a number of issues, including Kennedy’s efforts to provide all Americans health insurance.
Nathan Gonzales, who tracks Senate races for the nonpartisan Rothenberg Political Report, said he expects Democrats to prevail in the special election.
More wonderful ‘journalism.’ What seem to be left out of this repeater, err I mean reporter’s article is the fact that the democrats changed the law in 2004 to prevent a republican governor from naming an interim appointment if Kerry won the election.
Nice that the democrats don’t want to live up to the standards they set for other people, a nice that a so-called journalist seems to think that’s not important to mention.
