Enforce The 17th Amendment: the Dems' Appointed Senate Majority
Here's a comment I left at Althouse regarding the story about the hundreds of convicted felons who voted in the Franken-Coleman election in 2008 in large enough numbers to provide Franken with his winning majority. As I pointed out, Franken is not the only Democratic Senator whose seat was arrived at via less than democratic means:
The Senate has become increasingly unrepresentative. Right now, we have:
1. Roland Burris (appointed)
2. Kristen Gillebrand (appointed)
3. Mark Bennet (appointed)
4. Ted Kaufman (appointed)
5. Bob Menendez (appointed)
6. Al Franken (sued for his seat. benefited from "voting irregularities")
7. Mark Begich (narrowly beat Ted Stevens after Stevens was convicted of fraud, a conviction that was later overturned on the grounds of prosecutoral misconduct)
Maria Cantwell and Mary Landrieu have also won elections thanks to "midnight returns from Precinct 13" style maneuvers.
And don't forget Robert Byrd and Ted Kennedy who each died in office after lingering for a couple years.
There's also Tim Johnson, who was incapacitated by a stroke, and has still not yet fully recovered...but won re-election in 2008 anyway.
Oh. I almost forgot Frank Lautenberg who managed to get on the ballot in NJ despite missing the deadline to get his name on the ballot. (The scandal plagued Bob Torricelli should properly have been on the ballot).
That's the Democrats' Senate majority right there. Are Republicans even trying?!
Powerline, which I think was the largest media outlet with a national following that covered the Franken election in any detail, has a lot more about the absolute failure by Minnesota to look to the integrity of its elections. Apparently, there is a well known phenomenon of college kids voting in Wisconsin and then crossing the border to vote in Minnesota. There's also the expected illegal immigrants and other non-citizens voting in see-no-evil urban districts. One commenter at Althouse claimed he saw a man "vouch" for some burqa-clad women who then proceeded to vote under his direction. Do you still believe in Minnesota Nice?
Meanwhile, there were doubtless thousands of actual American citizens who sat at home moaning that they "just don't have time to keep up with all the issues." People, this isn't a graduate school exam! Just get in there and git 'er done!
One thing is for sure: wherever you are, make sure you are registered to vote because you are not the sort of voter who is going to get the sort of extra-legal assist that Franken voters benefit from. If you are really interested in making a difference, make sure your registration is current. If you are going to be out of town, make sure to get your absentee vote in on time. We really can't afford to make any dumb mistakes, because only liberals are protected from their errors.
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