With the final votes tallied two weeks after the election, Senator Ted Stevens, Alaska, the longest-serving Republican in Senate history (40 years), and a recently convicted felon, lost his reelection bid to Anchorage Democratic Mayor Mark Begich.
Begich, like Stevens, supports expanded domestic oil and gas production, including in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. What will be missed, should the issue come up again in Congress, is Stevens' going-into-battle Incredible Hulk tie, which he wore when ANWR was debated on the Senate floor. The political wounds are probably too raw for Stevens to bequeath the tie to Begich.
Alaskans will also miss the hundreds of billions of dollar for projects Stevens earmarked for the state as a member and chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. Freshmen senator Begich will simply lack the political clout to deliver the goods.
Had Stevens won, it's likely Senate Republicans would have voted to remove him as a convicted felon, opening the door for Governor Sarah Palin to seek his seat in a special election. But Begich's win means Palin will be temporarily confined politically to the far North.
Democrats gain another seat with Begich's election, for a total of 58 -- within two of the mystical 60 needed to halt any Republican filibuster. Two Senate races, Minnesota (recount) and Georgia (run-off), are undecided.
Should the Democrats stall at 58 seats, they would need the support of at least two Republicans, probably from among the dwindling number of moderate Republicans. But even a 60 vote majority is not a filibuster-busting slam dunk, because some Democrats could break ranks with their party on a given issue.
Dissident Democrats may worry less about defying their leadership given that Senator Joseph Lieberman, Independent-Connecticut, suffered virtually no consequences for his embrace of Republican presidential candidate John McCain and his high-profile criticism of President-elect Barack Obama, including at the Republican convention.
Lieberman won reelection as an independent two years ago after losing in the Democratic primary, but continued to caucus with the Democrats. But rather than punish him for his apostasy and risk losing him to the Republican side, Senate Democrats allowed Lieberman to retain a key committee chairmanship, which Lieberman was adamant about keeping.
"We're moving forward, recognizing that there is a period of time that in Joe Lieberman's political career that I will never understand or approve," said Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada, said.
"This was done in the spirit of reconciliation," said Lieberman, who looked smugly triumphant. He expressed regret for some of his remarks during the campaign, but did not offer a public apology.
President Lyndon Johnson, Democrat-Texas, who ran the Senate with an iron hand as majority leader in the 1950s, must be turning in his grave.
LBJ would not be rolling, Gerry. He knew how to count. And he could certainly count to 60. If the Democrats win the seats in Georgia and Minnesota, they can't get to 60 unless Lieberman is on board. There are going to be times when Reid would have to say to his conference: OK, you might not like the actual legislation here, and a few of you can vote against it after cloture is invoked, which will allow the legislation to be passed with 51 votes. But for now, stay on the reservation...or else. If Lieberman is thrown off the reservation to begin with, Reid would only be able to exert that kind of discipline on 59 members, which will be meaningless if the 40 Republicans, and maybe one Joe Lieberman, stuck together. LBJ would understand completely.
I understand entirely why Reid and the Democrats did what they did. I just can't imagine it reaching that point under Johnson. LBJ knew how to crack heads, maintain party discipline and reward and punish. I don't recall a prominent Democraic Senator (or the party's former vice-presidential candidate, for goodness sake), speaking before the Republican convention endorsing President Eisenhower (another war hero), and bad-mouthing Governor Stevenson (another Illinois politican).