Who can find the rules for how Arizona would replace Senator McCain should he win this November?
Who would be likely candidates?
Who would we like to see?
An Open Thread in Guess Work
Submitted by Tomlinson Douthat on Thu, 2008-08-21 23:23.
The rules are here. The governor would appoint a replacement for the remaining two years of McCain's term, but the replacement would have to be a Republican. There's no provision for the state party to nominate certain candidates, as there was with the recent Wyoming vacancy.
Governor Napolitano's a Democrat, and, more importantly, she's rumored to have designs on the seat for herself. Therefore, we can probably expect her shortlist to be the result of cross-referencing the Republican voter rolls and the sex offender registry--or something close. And we'd be stuck with this guy in the Senate for two years.
But this assumes that McCain only resigns after he's elected. If he were to resign before the election, then Napolitano would still appoint the lamest Republican possible, but he'd only be in office for a few weeks rather than two years, and there'd be an election in November for the remaining two years of the term. This would probably pit a good Republican (maybe Shadegg?) against either Napolitano herself or a crony who'd keep the seat warm for her.
I don't know if there are any other laws that would govern how long before the November election he would have to resign in order for the latter scenario to obtain. I assume he couldn't do it on November 3. But if it's not too late already, I think he ought to resign and leave the choice of his successor (with perhaps a brief interregnum) to the people of Arizona rather than to Governor Napolitano.
After all, if he's elected, there's likely to be a few Senate votes in the first couple years of his first term where it would be very handy for him to have an extra vote from a real Republican rather than whoever Napolitano would appoint. And it would also give him a few days of free, good press coverage... maybe stealing some thunder from the Democratic convention? That's what I'd do, at least.
Submitted by Brian Simpson on Thu, 2008-08-21 23:31.
I spent hours trying to navigate that awful AZ state website and couldn’t find the official reading of the rules.
It sounds like either way we could get screwed on his seat should he leave. 1. He resigns early, but not early enough for a full primary and we get the party’s choice (I’m suspect on those) or 2. Napolitano picks a real loser.
Fighting for conservatism one day at a time.
Submitted by David Hinz on Fri, 2008-08-22 01:08.
maybe we could get lucky and the governor might select him to fill the vacancy. I can see him on the Senate floor:
"The floor recognizes, the junior senator from Arizona."
"Thank you Mr Chairman. I would just like to say to the senator from the great state of Nevada, 'YOU'RE AN IDIOT'."
OR, with a little luck, perhaps Franz could be elected instead, and then he could EAT Sen Reid.
Submitted by Knight_of_the_Mind on Fri, 2008-08-22 06:51.
would burden poor Mike Becker. We, at TMR, would have to take up a collection...
Boo-Yeah!
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