Thursday, December 14, 2006
Riding a tsunami of Iraq War fatigue and immigration anxiety, Democrats won control of both chambers of the U.S. Congress for the first time since the early 1990's. But now they're faced with the real prospect of losing control of the Senate even before the start of the session.
With a razor thin 51 to 49 majority they can not afford to lose any member, and they may have just lost South Dakota's Tim Johnson, who was felled by a stroke-like attack including bleeding of the brain. Rushed into emergency surgery, it is too early to tell the senator's prognosis.
If the senator does not recover, Mike Rounds, South Dakota's Republican governor, is authorized to select a replacement. It's expected that he would pick a Republican, resulting in a 50-50 tie. Ties in the U.S. Senate are broken by the President of the Senate, which is a role performed by the U.S. Vice President. So Dick Cheney and the Republicans would continue to control the U.S. Senate--at least until the end of George Bush's term at the end of 2007--even though voters preferred the Democrats.
If it happens, and it's starting to look like it might, it will be the 2nd time involving the administration that Democrats won the majority, but the GOP gets to rule.
Senator Chuck Schumer must be somewhere on his knees praying.
Posted by USTaino at 1:07 PM
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