Senate, Baby! (Ding Dong the Mitch is Dead)

 

I know I shouldn't because one of the races hasn't yet been called as I write this [update: except by Decision Desk as of 3:30 a. Pacific!]--but Ossoff is ahead by more than 12,000 votes (which is more than Biden's eventual margin) with an estimated 98% in, and predominately Dem areas still counting. [Update: now more than 16,000 votes ahead!]  Then there's military, overseas and challenged ballots, maybe mail-ins still.  And if his margin doesn't end up .5 there can be a mandatory recount.  But there's a lot of confidence in the media as well as politicians on both sides that this is a done deal.  These guys significantly overperformed Biden's votes everywhere, a lot of Democrats voted, and a lot of Republicans stayed home.  

And of course one of the races has been called, as of about 11 p. Pacific Tuesday--Democrat Rev. Raphael Warnock will replace Kelly Loeffler and become the first Black Senator from Georgia in history--the first Black Senator from anywhere in the deep South since Reconstruction.

That Warnock is pastor of the same church that Martin Luther King, Jr.--this call literally brought tears to my eyes.  I didn't allow myself to imagine an election night like this.

Now if Democrat Jon Ossoff continues to prevail over David Perdue as expected, the US Senate is 50-50, and VP Kamala Harris breaks the tie, effectively giving Democrats the majority.  Which above all means that Mitch McConnell will no longer be Majority Leader in charge of subverting President Biden--he'll be minority leader (if he doesn't step down) in charge of mooning around.  Majority Leader Schumer will set the Senate agenda and decide which bills get to the floor, not Mitch.

 Committee chairs go to the Dems, along with their agendas.  All of this is more important than the party line votes--that was always going to be more fluid.  But with an open split in the Republican party that is likely to become evident on the Senate floor today, President Biden's chances of crafting legislation that gets at least a handful of Republican votes gets stronger. 

So now Wednesday's madness in Washington suddenly seems comic tragedy rather than tragicomedy.  Let's laugh at the Fascists on the floor and the Nazanies in the streets.  Cause I'm singing Georgia, Georgia!  The Whole Day Through...