In what should be a surprise to absolutely no one, outgoing Delaware Governor Ruth Ann Miner has announced that she will appoint to Joe Biden's soon-to-vacated Senate seat one Ted Kaufman, Sen. Biden's former Chief of Staff. Kaufman will hold the seat until a special election can be held in November 2010. At that time, there should be zero doubt that Biden's son, state Attorney General Beau Biden will run and win the seat his father first took in 1972. Little Biden was unable to take the appointment now because he was recently deployed as a member of the National Guard.
This appointment has many similarities to what happened to JFK's Senate seat. In 1960, after Kennedy was elected to the presidency, it seemed natural that his younger brother Ted would get the seat. However, at that time Ted was not yet 30 years old, and was thus constitutionally ineligible to sit in the Upper Chamber. Consequently, the governor appointed a man named Benjamin Smith to the seat. Smith, who had been JFK's college roommate, was a Kennedy loyalist, and sure enough, in 1962 when a special election was held, Smith vacated the seat and Ted ran, winning the slot he sits in to this day.
While I've been expecting this to happen since the moment Biden took the veep spot on the Democratic ticket -- and really, even before then as I have always figured Joe's son would one day get this seat -- it is nonetheless disappointing. There may be nothing else in politics that angers me more than naked nepotism. Seats in the United States Senate should not be treated like family heirlooms, or even birthrights that can be bequeathed like a piece of property in a will. Yet, that is exactly what often happens.
Outgoing Lieutenant Governor John Carney, who lost very narrowly in this year's Democratic gubernatorial primary to state Treasurer and now-incoming Governor Jack Markell, was seen as someone who could have gotten the nod. He is obviously close to Miner, and has wide support in the state. Still, that he was snubbed should not surprise him or anyone else. Beau's eventual ascension to this seat is about as likely as the sun rising tomorrow morning. And that's a shame.
This is not change we can believe in.
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Granted this is the intended effect and I find it equally nauseating, but nothing in politics is a given. Who knows whether Obama-Biden will be popular in 2010? What if some scandal emerges and makes Lil' Biden unelectable, or he dies in Iraq? What if Mike Castle runs? But the other fair question is why should Carney get a consolation prize (and therefore a leg up in incumbency) ahead of any other state democrat? Granted he lost to the New Gov by less than 2k votes and maybe he should have tried harder, what with the full backing of the state party. Biden was on the ballot twice in DE. DE voters overwhelming picked Obama and reelected Biden to the Senate knowing full well which office he really wanted. If Carney really thinks he would be better for the Senate, then he should run in the primary, or switch parties and run against Lil' Biden. It would have been more nepotistic to appoint Lil' Biden and somewhat affirmative action-ish to give the Senate seat to Carney with the incumbency advantage. On the flip side, it is cheaper for the DSCC to have a strong incumbent appointed to hold a seat (see Miller in GA when Coverdell died) and maybe Carney would be a better senator than Biden inheriting his dad's position. Public office should not be a private property right but btw 2 state office holders who reasonably believe they can do the job, then I think the fairest thing is to let them duke it out in an open seat. Had Carney been appointed and then face an intra-party challenege from Lil' Biden, then DE Dems might be in a lose lose situation. One possible consolation for Carney is that Obama could appoint Castle to a high level ambassadorship or some other federal position and Carney/Biden can run either the House or Senate seat.
Those are a lot of excellent, excellent points, many of which I had not considered. I agree with much of what you said, but I still can't accept this move. It was a runaround to give Little Biden the seat, and we all know it. I am not trying to make Carney some sort of martyr -- I could care less about his political future -- I just find political nepotism incredibly distasteful.
Your point on Castle is right-on. Delaware may be Democratic, but it is not Vermont or even New York, so if Castle ran for Senate in an open seat, he would have an excellent chance. He was governor for two terms and wins easily every two years. He would even give Little Biden a race. The thing is that he is not in super health, and at nearly 70, I don't see him making that jump. Not to mention, he is pretty close to Bidens. Nevertheless, it is a great consideration for Dems, and if I was John Cornyn, I would be begging Castle to mull it over and promising him $10 million in support from the NRSC.
In the end, because we are likely to win this race regardless of who we nominate, I really don't care much about the contest. However, should Castle run I will feel differently. While Delaware tossed out Bill Roth in 2000 for Tom Carper, if Obama is unpopular in a couple years, the dyanamic could change, even with Biden Junior up as our nominee.
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