Election Day’s results have several implications, both on the state and national level. Republicans regained control of the Senate, which frees President Bush to push his domestic agenda through Congress with much less resistance. Perhaps the most significant result of the Senate changing hands will be seen in the federal judiciary. Bush’s appointments to the federal bench were held up in the Senate Judiciary Committee until now. When Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) takes the chairman’s gavel from Patrick Leahy (D-Ver.), expect an avalanche of conservative judicial appointments to head to the floor of the Senate, where most will be confirmed.
Something else to think about is that rejected judicial nominees can be renominated when the new Congress convenes in January. Charles W. Pickering might get a seat on the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals after all.
In any case, since most federal judgeships are lifetime appointments, the federal bench is probably going to lean conservative for the next 10 to 20 years.
Also, a few of the old, conservative Supreme Court justices will probably step down now that they know a conservative justice will replace them. Among the justices rumored to be considering retirement are Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Sandra Day O’Connor.
Some other possible consequences of a GOP-controlled White House and Congress are the passing of an energy bill that allows drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and a prescription drug bill with higher subsidies for pharmaceutical companies. The tax cuts passed by the 107th Congress will also probably be made permanent instead of expiring in 10 years.
In Mississippi elections, the power of the tort reform issue was seen in many races. Candidates funded by the business and medical communities won all the major judicial offices up for election-a Supreme Court seat and two Appeals Court seats. Candidates perceived as trial lawyer-friendly lost on all levels, even down to several circuit and chancery court elections.
Even Pickering’s congressional campaign said tort reform played a major part in the campaign. Quentin Dickerson, Pickering’s press secretary said, “That issue gave Chip a lot of traction.” Dickerson said President Bush’s coming to Mississippi and using his bully pulpit to focus attention on tort reform made voters pay attention to an issue that might have been otherwise ignored in a congressional race.
Shockingly, the closest congressional race in the state was not Shows vs. Pickering, as many expected. Rather, Republican Clinton LeSueur lost to incumbent Democrat Rep. Bennie Thompson in the 2nd District by only 11 percentage points. Shows lost to Pickering by 29 percentage points.
LeSueur’s relatively strong showing is surprising for several reasons. Thompson was considered an entrenched incumbent with a heavily Democratic district gerrymandered for him. “The King of Patronage” supposedly had a strong network of mayors in his district helping him run his grassroots campaign.
LeSueur, on the other hand, was a political unknown who received next to nothing from the state or national GOP in terms of financial or personal support. President Bush wouldn’t even meet with him publicly when he came to Madison to stump for Pickering. He essentially ran his campaign out of the back of his truck.
Yet he garnered 43 percent of the vote, more than any other congressional challenger in Mississippi.
It’s enough to make one wonder what would have happened had LeSueur been funded on the same level that the Democrats funded Shows’ losing effort.
The political landscape has changed in the United States. Bush proved his popularity can carry candidates into office. He has now fully shed the idea that he has no popular mandate for his domestic and foreign policy.
The Democrats are on the defensive, and heads are rolling. House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.) has already resigned his leadership position. Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe might be the next to resign.
I realize that some readers might be sick of politics and want a respite from political ads and politics-related news stories dominating newspapers’ front and opinion pages. To those poor people, I have one more thing to say:
Mississippi holds elections for every major statewide office a year from this past Tuesday. And the gubernatorial campaign promises to make the Shows/Pickering race seem mild by comparison.
Ah, the joys of democracy.
Wilson Boyd is a senior economics major.