This Liberal Blogger is Thrilled at Chaffee's Victory

Well, all over the liberal blogosphere, my fellows are bemoaning the Chaffee victory. But not me. If we were in Rhode Island, his margin would have been between two and five votes higher, and one of them would have come from me.

I have been a registered voter since my 18th birthday, and I have always registered as a Democrat, except for a couple of times when the electoral laws over the primary process of the state I found myself in made it prudent for me to register as an Independent. (I don't expect everyone to be as wonkish as me.)

That said, I never once passed up an opportunity to vote for Nancy Kassebaum, or for Bob Dole (in a Senate race) for that fact. They were good senators. They did a much better job of representing the interests of Kansans than any opponent either ever faced could have ever hoped to. I'm a Democrat, but I'm not stupid, and certainly not to the point of being self defeating. A good senator is a good senator. Period.

Everyone is all caught up in whether or not the Democrats will take back the Senate. I am concerned about the people who sit in the senate, male or female; Democrat and Republican alike. And Lincoln Chaffee is a man I want to sit in the Senate.

Lets take it apart, bit by bit, shall we? If the Democrats would have taken the senate but don't (assuming Linc Chaffee pulls out a victory in the General in six short weeks - he may not) that will mean no party has cloture, the senate will be in a 50-50 split. And in a 50-50 Sernate, with Chaffee retaining his seat, one of theirs might as well caucus with ours.

I gotta admit that I just flat-out like the guy. He's rolled out of bed, rolled up his sleeves and broke a sweat. He knows what work is. I like his voting record. I like to non-politician vibe that comes off of him. And he is a contrarian of the first order, something that august body needs more than one of. (I am delighted at the prospect of Chaffee winning in November and being joined by the left-of-liberal Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Were we Vermont residents, Sanders would have had a wider margin, too.)