I just got in from an enjoyable night with old college friends…and no, still no snow here in New York, so FORECAST FAIL!
During the course of the night, I was reminded of a fun little political factoid.
It’s possible that Barack Obama’s Senate seat could be lost to Republican Mark Kirk if the rumored scandals about Democrat Alexi Giaanoulius turn out to be true. If it happens, it would be a terrible embarassment, but not something unique for a Democratic President. Let me explain…
…three of the last five Democratic presidents share this potential embarassment.
In 1945, Senator Harry S. Truman (D-Missouri) resigned his Senate seat to become Vice President…he became President a few months later. Democratic State Senator Frank Briggs would appointed to fill his Senate seat. When Briggs faced voters to be reelected in 1946, when Truman’s seat would have been up anyway, he was defeated by Republican James Kern.
The loss of Truman’s Senate seat was framed as am embarassment to his administration and his Presidency and sounded alarms that Truman himself would be defeated two years later. Supposedly Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, a Democrat, suggested Truman appoint a Republican Secretary of State and then resign, making said Republican the new President…the 22nd Amendment having not been ratified yet, and this no Vice President existed after Truman ascended into office.
Nevertheless, Truman survived and Senator Kern got tossed out of office in 1952 after one term.
Lyndon Johnson saw his Senate seat flip parties in 1962 when Republican John Tower narrowly defeated Democratic incumbent William Blakley to become the first Republican Senator in Texas since Reconstruction…although Johnson was still Vice President at the time, the loss of his seat in Texas questioned his viability as a running mate for JFK in 1964…could he carry Texas again? Was civil rights at play in the Texas loss?
Third, we had Bill Clinton. When Clinton resigned the Arkansas governorship to become President, his Lt. Governor, Jim Guy Tucker became Governor. That summer, there was a special election for Lt. Governor narrowly won by Mike Huckabee…a political embarassment for Clinton to see a major race in his state go to the Republicans. Of course, Governor Tucker went down in Whitewater a few years later and Huckabee became Governor.
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