The Most Important Person In The World, by Mike Gold – Brainiac On Banjo #377 | @MDWorld

September 8, 2014 Mike Gold 3 Comments

The 2014 Senate race had been shaping up as a real fun bout, with control of the Senate at stake. The Republicans have to switch six seats, and the out-of-White-House party virtually always picks up seats in the off-year election. Given that Democratic President Barack Obama’s approval rating is 43%, lower than Lyndon Johnson’s but higher than Harry Truman or George W. Bush, one might think the Republican Party has something to work with.

As it turns out, the answer to that is “maybe.” It’s possible the Pubs might pull it out, but right now the Rasmussen Generic Congressional Ballot shows a virtual tie in party support, Republicans 41%, Democrats 40%. Some of their better candidates are in deep trouble (hello, Mitch O’Connell!) and three leading Republicans are perceived as weak. On the other side of the aisle, four Democrats up for re-election are perceived as having weak holds on their seats. Polls shift over time, but it’s after Labor Day and they’re beginning to reflect the endgame. As usual, it’s tightening up quite nicely. Everybody’s trolling for money, but the he-who-has-the-biggest-wallet-wins myth really has been debunked. The trick is in getting enough money, not more.

What if the Senatorial elections, with one-third of the floor up for a vote, wound up as a push? What if it’s 50-50, Democrats/Independent fellow travellers to Republicans/Tea Partiers? What if?

Well, then, the most important person in the world will become Vice President Joe Biden, who, according to our Constitution, is also president pro-tempore of the Senate. He gets to be the tie-breaker.

Hey, Republicans! Joe’s not so funny anymore, is he?

Not that losing the Senate will change anything for the Democrats. To paraphrase progressive wag Mark Shields, Obama will give us more vetos than a Columbus Day parade. If Obama leaves office, well then, guess which president pro-tempore takes over the White House?

Politics as a bloodsport. Those people who feel that sports should have something to do with sportsmanship have never run for office… but, then again, they don’t follow football either.

Can America survive another two years of nothingness?

Of course we can. And in 2016, that may be where the vote goes.

Mike Gold performs the weekly two-hour Weird Sounds Inside The Gold Mind ass-kicking rock, blues and blather radio show on The Point, www.getthepointradio.com and on iNetRadio, www.iNetRadio.com as part of “Hit Oldies” every Sunday at 7:00 PM Eastern, rebroadcast three times during the week – check www.getthepointradio.com above for times and on-demand streaming information. Gold also joins MDW’s Marc Alan Fishman and Martha Thomases as a weekly columnist at www.comicmix.com where he pontificates on matters of four-color.