filibustering, Georgia and a majority of 60 in the Senate

After a long thanksgiving leave, during which, among other important things,  a boysterous Sarah Palin was interviewed "while turkeys were slaughtered in the background", I'm back to tackle the best I can a momentous topic : what now for the GOP? 

But before that I'd like to answer the question asked by one of you : what's with Georgia? And why the hype about the 60 strong Democratic majority in the Senate? 

Remember that the US Constitution lets each State make provisions for the electoral rules they wish to apply, which made it possible for some States to disenfranchise certain citizens in the past.  

A runoff is organised when no candidate has reached the 50% +1 vote margin required in certain  States which have a two round system (as we do in France for most of our elections; the word runoff is thus translated into "deuxième tour"). In most States, a plurality system voting is the rule ( also called "first past the post" as it is referred to in England, for instance) and so there can be no runoffs.
In Georgia, the vote was split between three candidates (Rep; Dem and Libertarian), neither of which won a majority, hence the runoff election between the incumbent Saxby Chambliss (R) and Jim Martin (D). The runoff was won by the Republican candidate, as expected (NYT article). The GOP base was very excited about the runoff, much more than the Democratic base, and Chambliss described this election as the last ligne of defence protecting the US from Democratic Party tyranny. 

Why ? Because if the Democrats have a majority of 60 in the Senate they will be able prevent an opposition Senator from filibustering. 

Filibustering is a practice of legislative obstruction by which a Senator takes the floor during a debate on a bill and does not stop talking untill the session is adjourned, the practice is commonly started before a Congressional recess ( Christmas/Summer break). A successful filibuster thus prevents a bill from being voted. 

For a fictional rendition of this practice watch in The West Wing, season 2, episode 17. There is also a great scene of filibustering in the classic Mr Smith goes to Washington (1939). 

Filibustering is often used to block appointments to Cabinet positions than require Senatorial confirmation (Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury, Attorney General...).

The only way to stop a filibuster is for a majority of 60 senators to cast a vote (called "cloture") ending a floor debate and thus precipitating the vote on the bill. If the Democrats had such a majority, the Republicans fear that they would rubberstamp any Obama appointments and crush all opposition. And obviously, a bigger the majority the easier it will be for the Dems to pass legislation. 

I recommend a short a NYTimes video presenting the results of the runoff and its impact on US politics. 

How close are/were the Democrats to the magic number of 60 Senators? If we have a glance at the electoral map and the result of the 2008 election, what we see is that the Democrats have 56 seats, the Republicans 41 and there are 2 independent Senators,  including the very controversial figure of Joe Lieberman, a former Democrat who vocally supported McCain during the campaign and criticized Obama, for an up-date on his position in the Democratic caucus and his ability to keep his comittee chairmanship : read this. 

Basically 3 seats were left undecided after the election and were proving critical for the Democrats to establish a complete hegemony in the Senate : Georgia (no longer an issue now), Alaska and Minnesota. 

Alaska's incumbent Senator Ted Stevens (convicted on several counts of felony, days before the election) lost to his Democratic opponents by a very narow margin and the result was finally known on the 18th of November. 

Whereas in Minnesota, the election was so close that an automatic recount  was ordered, in compliance with the State electoral laws. The feud oppose former comedian Al Franken (D) to incumbent Norm Coleman (R), each has won 42% of the vote, with 15% going to Independent Dean Barkley. As I write the gap between the two candidates is about 225 votes! The election could really go either way; read about projection models in the NYTimes. The final results will be in around the 19th of December. 

I'm creating a new post to talk about the future of the GOP, this one is long enough already.