Senate Races
It’s too close to call on the Presidential races. But the other important thing, no matter who wins, is the system of checks and balances. We have a situation where the Republicans control the White House, the Congress, and the Supreme Court. I’d much prefer it if each party controlled at least one of these three institutions.
Since we can’t impact the outcome of the Supreme Court, other than voting for the presidential candidate whose “litmus test” we agree with, the Gotham Gal and I decided to get busy and figure out what’s going on in the Senate Races.
A good place to start is Electoral-Vote.com’s Senate pages. There is a lot of date there if you are interested, but here’s the bottom line:
So what’s the bottom line? Probably the Democrats will pick up Illinois but lose Georgia and South Carolina. Assuming they hold South Dakota and Nevada and the Republicans hold Missouri and Pennsylvania, the Senate will be 45 Democrats (including Jeffords) and 49 Republicans, with tossups in Alaska, Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina, and Oklahoma. To take unambiguous control of the Senate, the Democrats have to win them all. If they win five of the six and Kerry wins and the Democrats win the special election in Massachusetts, they also take control of the Senate and John Edwards gets a real job–breaking ties in the Senate. A tall order, but not impossible.
After learning that, we talked to some friends in the senate, some people who do political fundraising, and talked it over some more. We decided to support the following candidates. These Democrats all have a good shot of winning, need money badly, and if they win, will give us the checks and balances we need.
Tom Daschle, South Dakota
Erskine Bowles, North Carolina
Ken Salazar, Colorado
Betty Castor, Florida
Tony Knowles, AlaskaBrad Carson, Oklahoma
The links are all to pages where you too can contribute. I don’t care if its $20, $200, or $2000. If you feel the same way we do, go make a difference. It’s the one way you can hedge your bets in this important election year.