by Frank James
The Democrats made big gains in Congress last night though they didn't get to the 60 votes they needed to be able to get legislation or judicial nominations through the Senate without Republican cooperation.
At last count, they hold 56 seats, with Republican Sen. Norm Coleman getting 762 more votes in a tight-as-a-tick race in Minnesota. But there will be an automatic recount and the race may not be certified until December.
Here's an excerpt of an Associated Press report:
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) _ Republican Norm Coleman outlasted Democrat Al Franken in one of Minnesota's tightest Senate elections ever, squeaking past the former comedian early Wednesday by a margin that appeared certain to trigger a recount.
With 4,129 of 4,130 precincts reporting, Coleman led Franken by 762 votes out of nearly 2.9 million cast. Coleman had 1,210,790 votes, or 42.03 percent, to Franken's 1,210,028 votes, or 42 percent.
Dean Barkley of the Independence Party was third with 15 percent, and exit poll data showed him pulling about equally from Coleman and Franken.
The margin was well within a threshold set by state law for an automatic recount. If it holds up, Coleman would be among the fortunate Republicans who survived big gains by Democrats nationwide.
Meanwhile, in the House, Democrats picked up at least 17 seats at last count with ten seats remaining undecided as of this morning. The Democrats controlled 235 seats before yesterday's election.
So Obama will have a Congress inclined to work with him but, which first and foremost, is populated by Democrats who want to maintain power and Republicans who want to regain it.
There's actually a potential political benefit in Obama not having gotten a supermajority in the Senate. It allows him to run against Republican obstructionists in the Senate if GOP senators thwart his proposed legislative initiatives or choices for the federal courts.
Comments
I can not believe Bachmann got reelected! What was MN thinking?!? We had a local race go for the Pugs here in WI too, that was won by Repug smear ads. I can not believe how many people can vote out of fear and ignorance. Congrats to the Dems for picking up the seats that they did.....I just wish it would've been a few more.
Posted by: Xcellentform | November 5, 2008 10:02 AM
Bachmann's bad, but it looks like convicted felon Ted Stevens may have gotten re-elected too. What is wrong with the people of Alaska?
Posted by: JT | November 5, 2008 10:11 AM
Also, Swamp, I was unable to participate in the liveblog last night.....and I did have cookies enabled. It stored my username on top....I typed comments in....and they went no where. It was fun to watch, but I imagine there were many that could not participate such as myself.
Yes, Stevens was a shocker too.
Posted by: Xcellentform | November 5, 2008 10:18 AM
At least Stevens was still breathing.
Mel Carnahan got elected in Missouri after he was dead, and John Stroger was re-nominated in Cook County when he was nearly so.
Posted by: DaveB | November 5, 2008 12:33 PM
Now comes the good part!!
This Thursday, Joe Lieberman is scheduled to sit down with Harry Reid to discuss his "future" as part of the Democratic caucus.
Is the word "grovel" too much to use here for Joe??
Posted by: BobinATL | November 5, 2008 1:24 PM
Posted by: BobinATL | November 5, 2008 1:24 PM
I can just picture Ole Joe now..."Harry, you know all those times I posed behing McCain as he attacked the Democratic Party? Well, I was secretly rooting for you the whole time. And those many speeches I gave attacking Obama and saying he was unpatriotic and endangered our troops? Yeah, I mis-spoke. I meant to say he was one of the greatest Americans and it just kept coming out wrong. Weird, Huh?"
Posted by: JT | November 5, 2008 2:17 PM
JT:
Watch Joe now - he will start throwing out his liberal social stances to try and get back in the good graces of the Dems. He made the choice to back McCain, and now he has to live with it.
Posted by: BobinATL | November 5, 2008 3:52 PM
The lobbist should have more muscle with more blue in congres- to bad members congress forgets theri voters in favor of the lobbist-
Posted by: Inky | November 5, 2008 5:02 PM