I’m sure that Tom Friedman will approve of Independent former Governor Angus King’s entry into the battle to replace Olympia Snowe in the Senate, but I’m tired of listening to bullcrap. Remember when Charlie Crist refused to tell us who he would caucus with in the Senate if Floridians elected him? That was just an insult to our intelligence. Now it is King’s turn to treat us like idiots.
Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, said that as an independent senator, King would have to pick a party to caucus with if he wanted good committee assignments and maximum influence. Independents Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Joe Lieberman of Connecticut now caucus with Democrats.
King said he could envision himself caucusing with either party, depending on the issues at the time, or neither party at times.
It isn’t hard to know who he’d caucus with. While he supported Bush in 2000, he was disenchanted with his partisanship and warmongering and went with Kerry in 2004. He’s donated money to Obama. He’ll caucus with the Dems for a simple reason, helpfully explained by David Nir:
That’s just simply not how it works. You can only get assigned to committees if you caucus with a particular party, and if you aren’t on any committees, then there’s nothing for you to do in Congress except write back to constituents’ emails and hang around waiting for the occasional roll call vote. A senator who refuses to join a caucus would be a joke of a senator, and what’s more, the Senate isn’t some kind of parliament. You don’t just get to randomly switch sides as it suits you.
You know, Charlie Crist tried this ridiculousness last cycle, saying he’d “caucus with the people of Florida.” He was roundly mocked for attempting to have it both ways, and in the end, it got him nowhere.
I don’t mind the prospect of Angus King joining the Senate and becoming a fairly centrist member. But don’t come out of the gate lying to me.
