I don't know how many political junkies we have on this board but right now I am really upset at the current "Tea Party". For those of you who haven't been following the 2010 Election Cycle, to make a long story short the Republicans will win back control of the House. Also "in play" was the US Senate. For the Republicans to win control of the Senate, they would essentially have to run the table and win all the races they are capable of winning including all the toss ups. With Joe Biden resigning his Senate seat when he was sworn in as VP, it opened up a long-held Senate seat by Democrats to be open to a Republican possibly winning. The state of Deleware is left leaning however there is one Republican who is very popular there, Rep. Mike Castle, the holder of the only House seat from Deleware. Rep. Castle was Governor for two terms in Deleware and is very very popular among voters. With Mike Castle in the race, the Republicans were assured a victory as he was leading the democratic candidate Chris Coons in the general election race by over10%. This was a great thing for the Republican Party...until Christine O'Donnell decided to run for the third time in the Republican primary. O'Donnell is an ultra-conservative who is part of the Tea Party movement. She ran against Mike Castle because she believed that he wasn't conservative enough. Sarah Palin even endorsed her as did Sen. Jim Webb at the last minute. Now, I am all for the political process however from a Republican stand point...this situation couldn't be worse. Sarah Palin is becoming a nightmare for the Republican Party. We were all but assured to win Joe Biden's Senate seat but thanks to the ultra-conservatives, they knocked off the Republican candidate who could actually win in the general election. Coons is favored right now to beat O'Donnell 53%-42% in Rasmussen polling. The Tea Party cost us this seat and now it is mathmatically impossible (barring an election miracle) for the Republicans to re-take the Senate. If this one seat costs us the majority, Palin and Webb's decision to endorse O'Donnell could be one of the worst political moves of their careers.
I'm not seeing all that much of a benefit of republicans running the senate. If they have the house, they'll have subpoena power enough to investigate all the things that need to be investigated. If they have 48 senate seats, they can easily filibuster. My hope for republicans gaining power is twofold: 1) Create gridlock - anytime they don't pass anything, someone's Liberty is less lost 2) Force Obama and his administration to compromise to get stuff passed - Clinton "triangulated" or adopted republican ideas that made sense and the country benefited from the best of both sides' ideas.
I kind of agree with Denny. The Senate takes 60 votes to master, so if you have 49 or 51 doesn't really matter all that much. [video]http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/7140347[/video] barfo
