The supposed heir apparent to Joe Biden’s Senate seat, Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, has pulled his name from consideration for the soon-to-be-open seat, according to Chris Cillizza.
This actually may not come as that big a surprise, as Beau Biden will be deploying to Iraq for a year as a military lawyer and will not be available to serve in the Senate during that time. Importantly, the younger Biden did not rule out running for the seat in the 2010 special election, when he would be done with his military obligation.
So, this really doesn’t alter the conundrum that we talked about last week facing incoming governor Jack Markell (or outgoing governor Ruth Ann Minner, depending on the order in which the handovers happen): does Lt. Governor (and gubernatorial primary loser) John Carney get the nod, with the expectation of a permanent post, or does an elder statesman placeholder get the seat for two years, followed by Beau Biden (or a battle royale between Biden and Carney)?
Instead of putting your family’s interests ahead of America’s, you opted for the honorable thing, and you’re serving in Iraq to boot. Good for you.
I don’t really know much about either Beau Biden or Carney. But, I have a preference for politicians to win their seats at the ballot box rather than having it handed to them. This is especially true when it’s not likely to hurt us by not having the incumbent in place already. I’m assuming Castle doesn’t run.
Minner. She’s 72. She’d be a good two year filler, and then Carney and Beau could battle it out for the honor to serve the state.
Like I said in the earlier thread, Biden III and Carney are both worthy candidates; the Delaware primary voters should decide who they want to carry their standard for many years to come.
Markell to appoint someone even if the seat opens up during her term? Leave it vacant for a day or two (or even a few hours).
I’ve heard many people talking about putting him there, but I haven’t noticed anyone saying he actually wants it. Sure, he may be the most logical successor, but I don’t know whether he wants to be it.
In most cases, I’d rather a substantial replacement be in place for now. And given that Beau is Joe’s son, I’d really rather it not look like there’s a conspiracy to hand Beau the seat.