Letters to the Editor
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What Makes You Think the Republican's Want the Senate?
What exactly do the Republican's have to gain by controling the Senate? Bush already has the power to veto any legislation he doesn't like and it is very unlikely that the Democrats would be able to override any of his vetos. If the Republican's get control of the Senate and thumb their nose at the will of the people they are likely to loose everything in two years.
In the meantime, the Democrats will maintain control of the House and will be able to put a stop to any legislation they don't like. They will also have the ability to investigate endlessy and are far more likely to do so if they have no chance of getting any legislation to the President's desk. American's will likely be in the mood to hear every ugly piece of information that the Democrats can dig up as they wait impatiently for another two years when a whole lot of Republican Senate Seats come up for election.
The only thing control of the Senate will give the Republican's is the chance to seat another Conservative judge, not a given in such an evenly split Senate where Democrats are not so likely to play nice after having their power removed through gamemanship rather then the will of the people. If the Republican's do manage to swing the court to the hard right they will likely loose the intense interest of the religious right who will feel less of a need to support them, while lighting a fire under everyone else when a completely out of step Court starts handing down one frighening ruling after another.
While there is little upside to the Republicans in controling the Senate, remaining out of power offers more. They will be in much better shape in two years to blame the Democrats and argue for change if they remain out of power in Congress, where they will try to pin all of the problems they created on the Democrats. Don't forget, the Republicans rushed to give the Democrats the Senate, pressing nominees to conceed quickly when they could have easily and not unjustifiably contested several very close elections, so why does anyone think they are in any hurry to give it back?