Word: two
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Dates: during 2000-2000
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...last time control of the U.S. Senate divided equally between the two parties was in 1881. And it wasn't a pretty sight. Democrats and Republicans each had 37 seats, with two held by independents. The Democrats managed to persuade one of the independents to join their ranks, but then Republicans peeled off the other independent, Senator William Mahone of Virginia, by dangling before him the Agriculture Committee chairmanship and the power to pick the Senate's Sergeant at Arms. Republican Vice President Chester A. Arthur cast the tie-breaking vote so the G.O.P. could take over the chamber...
...expect any Senators to change their party stripes for a committee chairmanship from the enemy. Democrats have already quietly sniffed for defectors but have found no prospects. The only opportunity for a tilt in their direction would be if the Senate's two oldest Republicans, who are in poor health--South Carolina's Strom Thurmond, 97, and North Carolina's Jesse Helms, 79--suddenly left and the Democratic Governors of their states picked replacements...
Barring that, the Democrats want the Senate treated like community property. Minority leader Tom Daschle will probably meet with majority leader Trent Lott this week to demand that the two sides share power in the chamber. Even if Al Gore ends up President--which would mean Joe Lieberman's giving up his Senate seat, Connecticut's Republican Governor's appointing his replacement, and the G.O.P.'s getting a 51-49 majority--Democrats still want to be considered almost as equals, and Republicans realize they don't have room to run roughshod. "With this narrow margin in the Senate, there...
...that Democratic vice chairmen serve alongside Republican chairmen. Lott has already ruled that out, and even Democratic Senators say privately they wouldn't be charitable if the tables were turned. The best Daschle will probably get is a one-vote Republican majority on committees instead of the current two, and more influence over legislation that gets to the floor for a vote...
State supreme courts are generally the definitive interpreters of state election law, and in this case the Florida court declared that it had to resolve two conflicting legislative provisions. Section 102.111 states that county returns not received by the secretary of state by 5 p.m. of the seventh day following an election shall be ignored. But Section 102.166(1) provides that losing candidates have the right to ask for recounts up until the time the local board certifies its results. Many counties, particularly large ones like Miami-Dade, might not be able to conduct full manual recounts if the seven...