Delaware Governor picks caretaker for Biden Senate seat

BE-ELECTED
by Chad Rubel

If you had Ted Kaufman in the Joe Biden Senate replacement pool, you know way too much about Delaware politics.

Governor Ruth Ann Minner gave the nod to Kaufman, Biden's longtime senior adviser. The move is seen as giving a seat a caretaker until Attorney General Beau Biden (yes, Joe's son) could run in 2010. The younger Biden is serving in Iraq.

Unlike Barack Obama, who resigned from the Senate, Joe Biden remains a Senator and will take the oath on January 6. Minner has said Kaufman will be sworn in around mid-January.

The last time a Senator resigned to be vice president was Al Gore in 1992. Tennessee Deputy Governor Harlan Matthews, seen as a caretaker, filled the post and did not run for re-election. Ultimately, Fred Thompson won the seat in 1994.

Before that, Walter Mondale resigned his Senate seat after the Carter-Mondale ticket won in 1976. Minnesota Governor Wendell Anderson appointed himself and lost two years later. Ironically, Mondale was the replacement for Sen. Hubert Humphrey, when he became vice president on January 20, 1965.

The significant loser in Delaware was outgoing Lt. Gov. John Carney, who was hoping to get a shot. Carney barely lost the primary to replace Minner, who could not run for another term.

The next election will be held in 2010 to fill the remaining four years on Biden's term. And that might be a tough Democratic Party primary between Biden and Carney with other players to be determined.

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