It occurred to me today that there’s at least some chance that in January of 2011 the US Senate will have 49 Democrats, Joe Lieberman, Charlie Crist, and 49 Republicans. Which is to say that Lieberman & Crist could form a two-man caucus, hold the balance of power, and drive organization of the Senate. Crist could leapfrog seniority and chair a committee. And if it looked like that might happen, mightn’t it make sense for Northeastern moderate Republicans (Snowe, Collins, Brown, Castle) and Southern moderate Democrats (Landrieu, Pryor, Hagan) to join their rebellion against the two party system? After all, Duverger’s Law predicts that we should only have two parties in any given place but it might make sense for those to be different parties in the different regions.It's possible. A new "Gang of Ten" or whatever would end up completely controlling the Senate. Crist and Lieberman, especially, would end up controlling everything. Whoever made them the best deal would get control of the Senate. It would be a madhouse...and nothing would get passed, period.
That would suit the Republicans just fine, I'm thinking.
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I'm not seeing this happening in the least. Not only do I not think the Dems will lose a net of 9 seats but none of the people you mention (besides Liebermen) would actually leave their caucus to form their own group. The Senate allows individuals to have a ton of power REGARDLESS of who they caucus with, see Scott Brown and Ben Nelson.
No, it will largely look like the Senate we now have (if your 49+2+49 Senate scenario becomes reality) except nothing would be passed... maybe REAL inaction in the Senate instead of snail like movement would get people's attention, but I have my doubts about the American people (or, most especially, the MSM) noticing even then.
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