While the prospect of investigations, clashes over executive power, and other reasons have been raised a lot over the past few months. I thought it would be interesting to point out three other reasons why this Congress just might be the most interesting to watch in the last 100 years or so. They're not as widely talked about but are important anyway. They are:
- Least. Southern. Dominated. Congress. Ever.
- Texas: Lone Committee Chair State
- Most Talented Freshman Class in Living Memory
Enjoy
- This is going to be by far the least Southern dominated Congress in living memory. In the Senate, there are only 5 Southerners in the majority (if you actually count Virginia and Florida as Southern anymore). I'm wondering what this will mean in terms of benefits for the Northeast, Midwest, and West Coast. The South has always recieved a good deal because they always managed to be on the winning side with a lot of senior members. Most of the House Committee Chairs are Northerners, including two the Big Three: Commerce-Dingell (MI), Apprporiations Obey-(WI)(Defense Approps which is almost as important is Murtha (PA)). Budget is John Spratt of South Carolina. But still, its a huge shift from the Sun Belt to the Rust Belt. The previous chairs of each were from California (Jerry Lewis, Approps), Texas (Joe Barton, Energy & Commerce), and Iowa (Jim Nussle, Budget). Basically an inverse of the last Congress. Other big spending committees will change hands to Northerners: Minnesota members will chair Agriculture (Collin Peterson) and Transportation (Jim Oberstar). The previous chairs were from Virginia and Alaska (the awaful Don Young ran Transportation) respectively. The new Armed Services Chair, Ike Skelton, is from Missouri. His predecessor was California's Duncan Hunter. In each of these cases, the Sun Belt is gonna lose a lot of power. The Midwest, Northeast, and West Coast are in; the Sunbelt is SOL.
- Texas in particular, is up poop creek sans paddle thanks to the DeLaymander. This is the first time since at least 1977 that Texas hasn't had someone in the House or Senate leadership teams. Suburban DFW and Houston in particular are going to be big losers in terms of appropriations. The only committee chair from Texas will be Silvestre Reyes.
- The sheer quality of the incoming class of Freshmen Democrats on both the House and Senate sides excites me. In particular, I think the 5 biggest stars are Former Rear Admiral Joe Sestak (PA-7), Iraq War veteran Patrick Murphy (PA-8), Connecticut State Senator Chris Murphy (CT-5), Minnesota National Guardsman Tim Walz (MN-1), and Arizona State Senator Gabrielle Giffords (AZ-8). These guys and gals are going to go places. Others to watch: Kirsten Gillibrand (NY-20), Brad Ellsworth (IN-8), Ed Perlmutter (CO-7), and Bruce Braley (IA-1). In the Senate, the two guys to watch will be Sherrod Brown (Ohio) is gonna be great on labor issues, while Jim Webb (Virginia) is going to become the number 1 pain in the butt for the Bush administration on Iraq.