And What About Delaware?

"I got it covered."


The 2008 Presidential Election victory of Barack Obama and the nomination of Hillary Clinton to be Secretary of State has opened up three new Senate seats on the Democratic side. New York and Illinois are both involved in unseemly difficulties in filling those two slots, as we all know. Less attention is being paid to the tiny state of Delaware, where Joe Biden was re-elected to the Senate seat at the same time he was elected Vice President. Delaware Governor Ruth Ann Minner has already appointed Joe Biden aide, Ted Kaufman, to fill Biden's seat until 2010, when voters will elect a new Senator for the remainder of the 6-year term.

Kaufman, for his part, has already announced that he intends to serve as Senator only until 2010 before moving aside to let the people of Delaware elect the next senator. That sounds fine. So does anyone want to predict who that unknown person will be in 2010 who will step forward to run for Senator? Do you think Joe Biden himself has any ideas? Sure he does. Biden has made no secret of his desire to see his son, Beau, become Senator in 2010. I suppose it could have come sooner, but the younger Biden is in the National Guard and scheduled to do a tour in Iraq soon, which he intends to fulfill. (God be with you, Beau.)

Most insiders in Delaware seem pretty confident that Beau Biden will eventually be the nominee to run for Senator on the Democratic side in 2010, and will, in fact, be the next Biden to become a US Senator. Not exactly "change", but the people of Delaware will be able to decide in an election, which is the important thing.

Still, one is left with a nagging question: What if Governor Minner had selected someone who wanted to serve as Senator until 2010 then run for the additional four years as well-and beyond?

Silly me.