From Roll Call:
Delaware Gov. Ruth Ann Minner (D) announced Monday that she would appoint Ted Kaufman, a former top aide to Vice President-elect Joseph Biden, to fill Biden’s seat in the Senate.
In the diaries, Zac speculates that Kaufman will be merely a placeholder for Beau in 2010. Maybe.
A short bio of this dude is available here.
UPDATE by Crisitunity: Ben Smith is reporting that both Minner and Kaufman confirmed at the Kaufman announcement that he would not seek reelection. (Interestingly, Smith also phrases it as “serve out the remainder of Biden’s term,” which runs through 2014, although because it’s an appointment there’s also a special election in 2010. So I don’t know what exactly he means.) Also, it’s kind of strange that Minner is making this announcement, since incoming governor Markell was signaling that he’d move his inauguration up to midnight on Jan. 20 to be able to name the replacement so Biden could remain in the Senate until the moment of being sworn in as VP. It could be some sort of Biden/Minner end-run around Markell, with Biden retiring earlier… or maybe it was all resolved amicably behind the scenes. Time will tell.
LATER UPDATE (James): The New York Times has a bit more:
In his statement, Mr. Biden did not hide the fact that he would like to see his son take the seat, but the younger Biden said he would not accept an appointment and wanted to fulfill a military obligation with the Delaware Army National Guard in Iraq.
“If he chooses to run for the Senate in the future, he will have to run and win on his own,” the elder Biden said in his statement, noting that the appointment of Mr. Kaufman will mean a “level playing field” for those who choose to compete for the seat in two years. “The voters will make that decision.”
Senator Benjamin Smith anyone?
Ted who?
Anyway, guess the placeholder plan for Beau really is going as planned, since I doubt anyone knows who this guy is.
Please tell me this is some elaborate snark that Roll Call is in on.
here.
Placeholder, and Carney apparently got screwed.
Great, I’ve never heard of this guy and I follow DE politics pretty closely. What a slap in the face to Carney and Markell. A governor with 20% approval ratings shouldn’t be making this pick, though apparently it has Biden’s support. All I know is that Beau better not run in 2010, I’m not a fan of generational politics to be honest.
Normal backroom behavoir.
We aren’t a country of royalty and placeholders.
The people of Delaware get screwed out of seniority and a Senator who is the best possible choice. Corrupt nepotism doesn’t just exist in Alaska.
Sadly, this should surprise exactly no one. It’s a real shame, but there’s nothing worse than political nepotism. These Senate seats are really like family or heirlooms or birth-rights, and frankly, I think that sucks.
God forbid it happens, but if Ted passes, I have zero doubt that the seat will go to Victoria or Joe Kennedy. Zero.
1. Delaware is a tiny state that is generally overlooked. Small advantages like seniority take on more importance when you don’t have a large congressional delegation and no one on Appropriations.
2. Our congressman (Castle) is a do-nothing spineless Republican “moderate”.
3. Our other senator (Carper)_is a torture-supporting DLC sell-out who loves photo-ops with GOP congressdouche Castle – the very worst kind of bipartisanship (Carper discourages Democrats from seriously challenging Castle).
4. Joe Biden put us on the map.
5. Ted Kaufman? Who’s he?
6. We’ve had enough nepotism from the GOP – ie, the DuPont clan.
7. Carney’s a very popular guy who lost the primary for Governorship to Markell by a very thin margin – either man was going to beat the GOP in a landslide, because both are very well-liked by the voters.
8. Beau Biden won the Attorney Generalship with around 52% of the vote. This is because he was widely considered to be underqualified, and his opponent was highly qualified.
9. Beau’s back in Iraq – he’s had little time to accomplish much as AG and faces the prospect of running in 2010 without much of a record to point to.
10. Mike Castle is old, and unhealthy, but he’s all the GOP’s got – they could persuade him to run for Senator, and he would have a very strong shot at winning.
11. John Carney has just face a long, intense primary, and very very narrowly lost. That primary has given Delaware the opportunity to get to know Carney, and he remains quite popular. He has natural support from unions, but also from the local blogosphere, which backed Markell in the primary.
12. Beau Biden has never had a serious primary, and the AG’s race focused exclusively on nuts-and-bolts AG stuff. We don’t know where he stands on social issues, economics, or foreign policy. (Granted, we don’t know Carney’s foreign policy platform, but pretty much all other issues were covered in the governor’s primary)
Conclusions:
1. We feel vulnerable. We used to have Joe Biden as our outspoken mouthpiece, and now we have Carper as our senior senator. Carper is more conservative than the state as a whole and prefers backroom politics to speaking out and taking principled stands on the issues.
2. Carney is more popular than Beau with the local blogosphere, and we’re going to complain about this whether you like it or not.
3. Come, this is Swing State Project – can you blame us for wanting a guy we know would win re-election in 2010 and keep the seat in Democratic hands?
I should note that I want Carney for Senate and Beau for House – I’m not anti-Beau, but tiny states like Delaware wield far more power in the Senate than in the House.