Say it ain’t so, Joe! You’re leaving us after only… uh… 36 years? Biden’s departure from the Senate leaves some pretty big shoes to fill, and while filling Obama’s Senate seat has been a hot topic of discussion here at SSP for the last week (and even Rahm Emanuel’s seat, for that matter), we haven’t talked about the situation in Delaware much.
There may, at this point, be more uncertainty about who gets to pick the replacement than who gets picked… which is odd, because it’s quite certain that Jack Markell will take over from Ruth Ann Minner as governor. Here’s the problem, according to ABC’s Political Radar:
Just prior to Tuesday’s election, Biden told a local television station that he does not want to resign his Senate seat until the moment he were to become vice president.
Delaware has not determined the time of its Jan. 20, 2009 gubernatorial nomination. But Gov. Minner’s office tells ABC News that the decision is traditionally made by the incoming governor.
So, who gets to replace Biden depends on when Jack Markell decides he wants to have his own inauguration ceremony on the 20th. If it’s before the presidential inauguration (and if Biden gets his wish of remaining in office until the moment of becoming Veep), Markell will get to appoint the replacement. (The tea leaves seem to indicate this will happen, as the ABC story cites Markell’s spokesperson as citing Gov. Pierre DuPont IV’s 12:01 am swearing-in in 1989 as precedent for doing it early in the day.)
Who, then, does Markell (or Minner) appoint? One obvious possibility is Minner herself, but Minner is 73 and has indicated that she is not interested in the job.
The most talked-about option seems to be Beau Biden, the Delaware Attorney General who also just happens to also be Joe Biden’s son. There’s one problem: Beau Biden is a member of the military, and is currently training prior to a one-year deployment to Iraq (as a lawyer, not as a front-line soldier). Military law (as well as his inability to be present for votes) would prevent him from serving in the Senate during his deployment, which makes his appointment right now impossible or at least ineffective. In addition, Biden Jr. has seemed leery of appointment in the past, perhaps unwilling to get tarred with the brush of nepotism; in 2005, Minner offered him the Attorney General post when it was vacant, but he chose to wait until 2006 to run for it and win it.
As a result, the possibility of a placeholder occupying the seat for two years, with the understanding that Biden Jr. would run for it in the 2010 special election, seems somewhat likely. Supreme Court Justice Myron Steele, who is close to Minner, is often mentioned in that context (although it’s possible Minner herself could keep the seat warm for two years). Secretary of State Harriet Windsor Smith’s name also crops up, at least in the placeholder context.
The other likeliest outcome is the appointment of Lt. Gov. Jack Carney, who lost the Democratic gubernatorial primary to Markell. The possibility of appointing the gubernatorial loser to the Senate seat was occasionally broached during the campaign; Carney, however, made it clear that if appointed to the Senate seat, he would want it to be on a permanent basis, not as a seat-filler for Biden Jr.
Finally, as an out-of-the-box choice, Chris Cillizza says that some Beltway chatter is talking up Obama campaign manager David Plouffe for the job, who grew up and went to college in Delaware.
Regardless of whether the 2010 candidate is Biden or Carney, the 2010 race could turn into a very competitive race if Delaware’s popular at-large GOP representative Mike Castle ran for the Senate. At age 69 and in the wake of some health problems, though, that challenge doesn’t seem likely.
UPDATE (David): We also discussed Biden’s successor in this August post when he was first named to the ticket.
that it will either be Jack Carney who will seek reelection in 2010 or a senior politician will be appointed to fill out the term and have an open race in 2010.
As for who that senior person might be, I think Minner sounds very logical. A name I haven’t heard yet but would find interesting is that of Wilmington mayor James A. Baker. There’s a lot of talk regarding Obama’s seat whether or not he should be replaced by an African American. Why not do that in Delaware instead?
are old rich guys who know they can’t win.
by not resigning immediately. So, frankly, is Obama Illinois.
Rules were changed some time ago about resigning early for office space and seniority purposes, but I don’t know exactly what the new rules say. And it will hurt to be at the back of the line, especially for Delaware.
I was for Markell in the primary. The fact almost 95% of the Democratic Party was behindCarney for Govenor was a little crazy (the state party even endorsed him). They would have just appointed him if they could, and Minner has been a disaster for DE. So Carney being Lt. Gov under her did not help him.
That said, Carney is the best for the Senate. He’s a good guy and is pretty liberal and union friendly. While I didn’t support him for governor, it wasn’t because of him or his policies really. I do not think Beau is appropriate. It reeks of nepotism, and he is not a very good retail politician, which DE loves.
I respect Biden a lot for his honesty and policy depth, but I don’t believe in any entitlements for family members at this high level. I really don’t agree with this placeholder garbage with Carney and waiting until Beau comes back from Iraq.
Can’t they just appoint Beau by absentia or something until he returns?
Beau can wait his turn. Appoint Carney to the seat and let him keep it and build up seniority. Mike Castle won’t stay in the minority much longer. I’m waiting for him to retire then Beau Biden can win the seat in the House and serve a few terms until Tom Carper retires, which I see as potentially 2012, but more likely 2018. Biden spends 6-8 years in the House then moves up to the Senate where he no doubt remains forever like his dad.
It seems pretty wrong that Markell wins the primary but Carney gets the big prize. Nobody is saying it but can Markell appoint himself?
Delaware governors in the recent past have moved on to both the Senate (Carper) and the House (Castle). Carney by losing moves up two steps and Markell is locked out of the parade.
Incidentally, is there a national list of the ages of Senators and House members (or date of birth)? Individual lookups aren’t bad but mass lookups are time consuming.
The oldest Republican representing the Northeast is Roscoe Bartlett of MD-6, at age 82. Castle and Joe Pitts of PA-16 are both 69. Next comes Peter King (64), Frank LoBiondo and Rodney Frelinghuysen (both 62) and John McHugh (60). Age doesn’t neccessarily equate with retirement (look at Mike Ferguson) but it could be associated. We might have more luck knocking off Bartlett now than waiting for a more vigorous Republican. The district is an umpromising R+13 but he isn’t loaded with cash and is coming off a lackluster performance against Jennifer Dougherty.
That would be sick. We don’t have Kings here for a reason. 36 years is plenty for one family to have a seat. Annointing the son is creepy, ugly nepotism. Let him run if he wants it.
He can hold the seat, no problem, and he’s probably about as liberal a Dem as you can get statewide in Delaware.
If Beau Biden wants to run for higher office, he should earn it on his own merits. He has enough of advantage already having the last name.
The most democratic thing to do would be to appoint a placeholder and then let Biden Jr (actually III) and Carney face off in the 2010 primary, if they each want the job (which seems likely). Gives the voters a real chance to decide who they want in the seat for the next few decades (whereas, if Carney or whoever was the incumbent, he’d have an all but insurmountable advantage).
A lot of focus has been put on Obama’s replacement in IL to deal with the lack of African-Americans in the Senate… what are the possibilities of a black Senator being named from Delaware? Even if Blago names an African-American to replace Obama, surely it wouldn’t be a bad thing to make history by having two black US Senators at the same time.
I’m sure there are prominent black elected officials in New Castle County and the legislature. Are any of them viewed as potential Senate names?