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Biden's Guv Plans Midnight Swearing-in
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ShareNovember 18, 2008 6:49 PM
ABC News' Teddy Davis and Arnab Datta Report: ABC News has learned that Delaware's newly elected Democratic governor is planning to take the oath of office at 12:01 a.m. ET on Jan. 20, 2009, making it possible for him to name Vice President-elect Joe Biden's replacement to the United States Senate.
Whether Governor-elect Jack Markell (D) gets to name Biden's Senate replacement will ultimately turn on whether the Vice President-elect makes good on his stated intention to wait until the moment he becomes Vice President to resign from the U.S. Senate.
Delaware law provides that when a U.S. senator resigns before the end of his term, the state's governor appoints a replacement who remains in office until the next election which, in this case, is 2010.
The midnight swearing-in will take place in Newark, Del., on the campus of the University of Delaware. Markell will be sworn into office by one of the state's Supreme Court justices. While Markell will take the oath of office and officially become governor on January 20, he will re-enact the swearing-in and deliver his inaugural address on January 21, at the state capitol in Dover, Del. Markell opted for a midnight swearing-in to accommodate Delawareans who wanted to attend the Obama-Biden inauguration in Washington, D.C., as well as the inauguration of the new governor, while simultaneously complying with the state constitution's requirement that the new governor be sworn in on January 20.
Markell thought it would be more feasible to hold a re-enactment on January 21 than it would be to hold a daytime swearing-in on January 20.
A number of Delaware state officials have been mentioned as possibile Biden replacements including Lt. Gov. Jack Carney, Supreme Court Chief Justice Myron Steele, and Secretary of State Harriet Smith Windsor.
Attorney General Beau Biden, the vice president-elect's son, sent an email to reporters on Tuesday saying that he does not want to be considered as a possible replacement for his father in the Senate. The younger Biden is a member of the state's National Guard and has been training in Texas for a year-long deployment to Iraq.
Markell is planning formally to announce his plans on Wednesday.
November 18, 2008 in Biden, Joe, Vote 2008: Democrats, Vote 2008: Republicans, Washington, White House | Permalink | User Comments (8)
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Biden needs to resign before Jan. 6th. That way, the Governor could appoint a replacement before all the winners of the recent election are sworn in, thereby ensuring that Biden's replacemenet maintains seniority over the other newcomers.
It would also mean that Gov. Minner would be the one to appoint a replacement. And it would be particularly appropriate for Minner to get to make the choice, considering the historical import of this month's elections. Minner, who broke the glass ceiling as the first female governor in Delaware history, is in a unique position to break another glass ceiling by appointing a woman to serve Delaware in the Senate for the first time in the state's history.
To be sure, talk has been made of Secretary of State Harriet Smith Windsor being appointed as a placeholder for Beau Biden. But to make history by appointing a woman to the Senate, only to have that woman pushed aside in two years would be no progress for the advancement of women. Hopefully Minner realizes this.
Minner should appoint a woman who can hold her own in an election two years later – either against a primary challenge from Beau Biden, or a Republican in the general.
Posted by: DE law student | Nov 18, 2008 7:38:40 PM
What? Is Cheney supposed to cuss him out??? HAHAHA!
Posted by: hmn | Nov 18, 2008 7:46:52 PM
it sounds to me like Biden and this new dude have swung a deal regarding who gets the Biden seat. His son maybe? Why can't politicians just play the game fairly and be done with it?
Posted by: dk | Nov 19, 2008 4:57:39 AM
Biden will probably get what he wants. An elderly placeholder until his son can get back from Iraq and can run in 2010.
This has to be handled quite carefully however. Everyone has to be in on it, agree with the goal, say the right things all along the way, and not change their minds about what's going to happen later.
A tall order to say the least. But since its all local, and everyone knows one another personally, it should work.
We'll see.
Posted by: Scott - Fort Worth - TX | Nov 19, 2008 6:43:38 AM
Unfortunately all "Three Stooges"
are dead. They would have been
great choices to replace Dopey Joe!
Emmit Kelley is also deceased.
How about Carrot Top?
By the way after Biden is sworn in as
VP how do school teachers around the
country explain to their students that
the Vice President of the United States
of America does not know who was
president during the 1929 stock market
crash?
How do they explain his belief that
the president went on TV to calm the
American people when TV hadn't been
invented yet?
You Obama cheerleaders had better hope that he stays healthy during his term!
As a matter of fact we should all pray
that Obama stays healthy!
God help us if Biden has to take over!
Posted by: reaganfan | Nov 19, 2008 1:36:20 PM
This just proves the old axiom:
Politics makes strange bedfellows!!
Posted by: Ric James | Nov 19, 2008 10:11:09 PM
reaganfan,
Don't you have something better to do with your time other than to trash Joe Biden? He's a good man, and your point is pointless. Everyone gets their wires crossed occasionally and strange things come out due to fatigue or distraction.
Posted by: Donna Hughes | Nov 21, 2008 10:51:20 AM
I certainly hope Jack chooses our new Senator. I've worked with him over the past several months to get him elected, and I trust his judgement far more than Ruth Ann Minner.
Posted by: Robert Pritchard | Nov 24, 2008 10:43:54 AM
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