Coons Enters Delaware Senate Race, will "surprise the devil out of" election watchers.

By GottaLaff

The Democrats have a candidate for Vice President Biden's old Senate seat:

The Wilmington News Journal reports Chris Coons (D) "made it official today: He's challenging Congressman Mike Castle for the open U.S. Senate seat long held by Vice President Joe Biden."

According to Politico, Biden yesterday predicted Coons will "surprise the devil out of" election watchers.

Let's hope it's a pleasant surprise or the devil will win.

Crazed Birthers Discouraging Open Town Hall Meetings

Unintended consequences and such. Asswipes.

WASHINGTON -- Since an uprising at Rep. Mike Castle's "listening session" in Georgetown became a YouTube sensation, the Delaware Republican said about a half dozen of his colleagues have told him they're finished with town hall meetings.

It's no wonder.

During a discussion on health care last month, Castle got booed by the crowd when he vouched for President Barack Obama's citizenship, of all things. An unidentified woman, holding an American flag and what she said was her birth certificate in a plastic bag, had members of the crowd on her side, clapping and cheering, when she shouted that Obama was a citizen of Kenya, not the United States.

While the incident has received widespread attention since then, Castle said the most interesting reaction to him has been from members of Congress.

"They saw that and they said, 'That's enough for me, I'm not having any more town hall meetings,' " he said, laughing.

PhotObama: Hope, huge crowds, and cold toes in Delaware

By GottaLaff

I'm trying my best to capture the profound emotions and exhilaration of the crowds as I watch the Tee Vee Machine:

PhotObama: It's happening... in Wilmington, Delaware

By GottaLaff

Click on images to enlarge:

Happy Birthday, Michelle!

More photos coming... but the feeling behind them is more important than the images themselves. It's a feeling of hope and unity, and of trust. Those are things that have been sorely missing for years. The country is coming together after a CPR-like breath of fresh air from our new president, his family, and the vice president and his family.

The Tee Vee Machine mantra has been: We've never seen anything like this before. There have never been crowds like this before. Braving the cold is worth it. The feeling is indescribable. Those are the words I've been hearing as I grab these shots as they happen.

History.

Tears blur my vision as I try to convey what is happening, as it's happening.

But it is finally happening.

Biden on track to set mark before leaving Senate

Joe's got to get the attention where he can.

WASHINGTON -- Vice President-elect Joe Biden has some unfinished business left in the Senate: making history.

When the Delaware Democrat takes his Senate oath again Jan. 6, he will be 66 years, one month and 17 days old. That will make him the youngest person ever sworn into a seventh full Senate term, according to the U.S. Senate Historical Office.

It's a distinction that may be just a footnote. With inauguration falling on Jan. 20, Biden won't get to serve more than two weeks of the term. And there's no plan for the Historical Office to create a new list for such a designation.

But it could be a capstone to a Senate career of markers, beginning with the 1972 election just shy of his 30th birthday that made him the sixth-youngest senator ever to serve. Biden is also the longest-serving senator in Delaware history, and among the longest-serving senators in U.S. history.

Ted Kaufman to fill Biden seat

I like the symmetry to Beau taking the seat, but I do hope he has a primary opponent. It's only fair. Via Ben-

Two Democratic sources tell me that Ted Kaufman, a longtime Biden adviser, will be named to fill his Senate seat.

UPDATE: A Delaware source says that Kaufman would likely be a "placeholder," spending two years in Biden's seat as a cap to a long, loyal career as a key Biden deputy. He could vacate the seat in time for Biden's son, Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, to run for it in 2010.

UPDATE: The Delaware governor announces the Kaufman pick, with both she and Kaufman saying he would merely serve out the remainder of Biden's term, and not seek reelection.

Beau Biden Will Not Accept Senate Appointment

By GottaLaff

Yesterday I read a couple of stories that suggested that Joe Biden might be hesitating to relinquish his Senate seat so that his son could slip into the spot as his replacement in 2010. Wrong:

Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden will not accept an appointment to the Senate to replace his father, according to knowledgeable state sources, a decision that scrambles the race to to replace the vice president-elect in the Senate next year.

Beau Biden, the eldest son of Joe Biden, removed himself from consideration even as he prepares to deploy for a year-long tour of duty in Iraq. (Biden is a member of the Delaware National Guard and is currently training in Texas before being deployed to the Middle East.)

What Beau Biden's decision means for the Delaware political landscape is still anyone's guess. Given his military commitment, there seemed to be no way that he could be appointed to the seat in early 2009 anyway, and his decision to pro-actively remove himself from consideration simply affirms that reality. [...]

If Biden resigns before Markell is sworn-in as Delaware's next governor on Jan. 20, then Minner, who is term limited out of office on that same day, would likely make the appointment. [...]

Which governor picks could make a big difference in the identity of the next senator from Delaware and whether or not the door will be open to Beau Biden in 2010.

So much for that speculation.