Lieberman wins; Stevens loses

Mark Begich was finally declared the winner in Alaska's Senate race, defeating incumbent and rat bastard Ted Stevens. Also, after absentee ballots and early votes were counted, the turnout in Alaska actually turned out to be quite high. There's still no explanation for why the polling was so wrong in Alaska, but nowhere else.

Also in the Senate, Democrats voted 42 to 13 to allow Joe Lieberman to retain his chairmanship of the Committee on Homeland Security. Sure, allowing Lieberman to stay is a great bipartisan move. It also rewards him for his committee's complete lack of oversight on homeland security.



I guess making out with John McCain was punishment enough.

Gates to remain?

According to the Wall Street Journal:

President-elect Barack Obama is leaning toward asking Defense Secretary Robert Gates to remain in his position for at least a year, according to two Obama advisers. A senior Pentagon official said Mr. Gates would likely accept the offer if it is made.

First, he extended an olive branch to Joe Lieberman. Now, Barack Obama's at least thinking about rewarding one of the few bright spots from the last administration. Granted, it's only been a week, but it sure didn't take that long for any hope of bipartisanship to bite the dust in post-election 2000.

No harm, no foul

Despite his participation in the McCain campaign, Obama wants Joe Lieberman to remain in the Senate Democrat caucus. This is certainly a good sign for Obama's promise of a new politics in Washington.