First thoughts

Matthew Hoy
By Matthew Hoy on November 8, 2006

There will be a lot more written by everyone about everything in the coming days, so here are some tidbits that are on my mind:

If Democrats end up taking the last two up-for-grabs Senate seats (Montana and Virginia) then watch out for the campaign to get Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman to pull a Jim Jeffords and caucus with the GOP. Considering how poorly the Democrats treated Lieberman after he lost the primary campaign, it would be easy to see why Lieberman might want some payback -- however I think it's very unlikely to happen. I'll put the odds at 10-1 against.

In Virginia, the current count has James Webb -- a Republican turned Democrat -- up by less than 8,000 votes with more than 2.3 million cast. On Sunday, Washington Post ombudsman Deborah Howell wrote a column in which she confessed that the Post gave Sen. George Allen the shaft.

Readers, especially before elections, watch The Post closely for any hint of political bias. Recently, such complaints have come mostly from Republicans.

Virginia voters must choose between two less than sterling candidates -- Republican incumbent George Allen and Democrat James Webb, both of whom have been mired in controversy: Allen for his demeaning "macaca" remark about a Webb campaign worker of Indian descent, and Webb for dreadful remarks long ago about women in the military.

Allen supporters think he can't catch a break; I sympathize. The macaca coverage went on too long, and a profile of Allen was relentlessly negative without balancing coverage of what made him a popular governor and senator. But it must be remembered that Allen shot himself in both feet with the "macaca" remark and his clumsy handling of the revelation of his Jewish heritage. Then he declined to talk to The Post for the profile. The profiles of both Webb and Allen were critical, but Webb's was leavened by his quotes.

It was bothersome that so much weight was given to "Fifth Quarter," the 2000 family memoir by Allen's sister, Jennifer. The book described family problems and portrayed Allen as a teenage bully. She called it a "novelization of the past," and Post reporters were unsuccessful in corroborating her account. Except for one brief remark, neither Jennifer Allen nor her brothers would comment on it.

Do you think that all this was worth 8,000 votes?

The Virginia race is close enough that you're going to see a replay of Florida 2000 or the 2004 Washington gubernatorial race. The number of lawyers per capita in Virginia is about to go through the roof.

Over at NRO, Ramesh Ponnuru thinks that new House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will stick with Rep. Jane Harman to head the Intelligence Committee rather than impeached judge Alcee Hastings. Let's hope that he's right.

Here in California, the Governator is a big winner. As evidence of how pathetic the GOP is in California, the only other winner of a statewide race looks to be Steve Poizner for Insurance Commissioner. Why is Poizner a winner? He was running against Cruz Bustamante -- the most incompetent Democrat in the state -- and that's saying something.

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