Blagojevich Impeached

The House voted overwhelmingly (114-1) today to impeach Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. It was clear to most (evidently not to 1, see above) after Blagojevich was caught on tape soliciting bribes to candidates for Barack Obama's former Senate seat.

This makes Blagojevich the fourth of the last eight Illinois governors to be arrested.

1. Otto Kerner
1961-1968
Arrested for, surprise surprise, accepting bribes.

2. Daniel Walker
1973-1977
Received over $1 million from fraudulent loans.

3. George Ryan
1999-2003
Charges included: racketeering, bribery, extortion, money laundering and tax fraud.

At least this allows us, as voters, to realize that all politicians, Democrats and Republicans, have corruption in the blood. Pretty good job, Illinois.

Alaska's Redemption

It looks like Senator Ted Stevens (R) has lost the race for his seat in the Senate. Mark Begich (D), the former Mayor of Anchorage (born and bred) edged him out by merely 3,700 votes. This year, a lot of surprising things have come out of Alaska. This race is clearly one of them. Since 1980, no Democrat has represented Alaska in either the House or Senate. I suppose it takes an 85-year-old convicted felon (yes, the first to run for a Senate seat) to sway Alaskans away from "tradition"-- and even then, Begich's margin is shy of 4,000 votes!

Begich is a conservative Democrat, not surprisingly supporting drilling for oil in Alaska. Still, it's a step toward the left. Nearly anyone would have been better than Ted Stevens. (Yikes, don't tell Sarah Palin I said that. We don't want to give her any ideas.)

Still up in the air:
Minnesota: A 206 vote margin warrants a recount between former comedian Al Franken and incumbent Senator Norm Coleman. Another e-voting machine error warning and I don't know why we are supposed to think our votes matter...
Georgia: The Senate race will come down to a Dec 2nd runoff between incumbent Saxby Chambliss and Democratic hopeful Jim Martin. Yes, that's right, a Democrat has a chance in Georgia.