Say hello to the first socialist Senator

Bernie Sanders of Vermont is a certainty to be elected on Tuesday. While no revolutionary, he is an outspoken socialist of the Social Democrat variety, still quite a first for the Senate.

Given that the Dems may take the Senate he could become important. Loathsome Lieberman is also running as an independent and is going to win, as Lamont ran a lame campaign. If Holy Joe decides to become a Republican then I’m guessing Sanders would become a Democrat, offsetting the damage.

6 Comments

  1. I don’t believe Sanders will become a Democrat, but I believe he has promised to “vote with the Democratic caucus,” i.e., he’ll vote for a Democrat to become President of the Sentate, just like he voted for a Democrat to become Speaker of the House.

  2. My thoughts were more hypothetical. A 50-50 split and Lieberman goes Republican breaking the tie. Then Sanders becomes a Democrat.

    However Holy Joe just said he would caucus as a Dem but vote independent. So he wants his perks as a Dem that he wouldn’t have a a Republican.

    Thus I guess Sanders can caucus as a Dem too.

  3. Sanders will undoubtedly caucus as a Dem.

    There was speculation a while back that if the Dems took the Senate there might be a couple of defections (from Rep to Dem or to indy caucusing w/Dems). Not sure who was on the list.

    Oh, and a 50-50 tie goes to the Reps; Cheney breaks the tie.

  4. Incidentally, someone posted the following to a list I belong to. I haven’t checked it, but I assume it’s correct:

    Sanders voted in favor of Israel’s war on Lebanon as well as “Free Iran”. Not suprisingly, he also voted in favor of Iraq war.

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