I’ll get into the possible candidates and musical-chairs game in today’s political round-up this afternoon, but it’s important to consider the choice before Vermont Dems when looking at the now-open Senate race.
Sen. Jim Jeffords, who announced yesterday he would not seek re-election, is an independent who left the GOP in 2001 to caucus with Dems. He’s not officially a Dem, but he votes for Dem leadership, attends weekly Dem caucus meetings, and maintains a role with state Dems in Vermont. Is this a problem for the Democratic Party? Not really. For all intents and purposes, Jeffords has been a Dem senator. The fact that there’s an “I” after his name is irrelevant.
Which leads us to Rep. Bernie Sanders, Vermont’s lone House member, who is also an independent who caucuses with Dems, and who will announce his campaign to succeed Jeffords any day now. The question, as Atrios alluded to yesterday, is what Dems are going to do about this. Do they run a Dem against him or do they embrace Sanders as someone who will serve in the Senate as Jeffords did?
At this point, it seems most Dems in DC and Vermont are wise enough to see the value in the latter option.
In Washington and in Montpelier, several leading Democrats all but endorsed Sanders, an indication the party is unlikely to run a major candidate and create a three-way race that could improve Republicans’ chances.
“I want a winner,” said U.S. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada. “If Bernie Sanders is an independent like Jim Jeffords, it would be good for Vermont and good for the country to have him here. I think he is an independent like Jim Jeffords.”
Vermont Senate Majority Leader Peter Welch said he is one of many Vermont Democrats who have supported Sanders in the past. It would be “problematic” for his party to field a candidate, he said.
“Bernie has enormous voter support and a substantial funding base and a Democratic voting record,” he said. “The biggest decision Vermonters have to make is whether they send a senator to Congress who opposes or supports the Republican majority.”
Exactly. Dems can, and probably will, welcome Sanders’ Senate campaign. There’s just no point in running against him, in turn helping the Republicans, when they can have a Dem senator is everything but name.