Democrats gained a majority by picking up four seats in the Virginia State Senate in the November 2007 Virginia legislative elections,
Mark Warner was elected U.S. Senator from Virginia in the November 2008 elections. It was an open senate race, since John Warner was retiring.
So had it been up the state legislature, Majority Leader Richard L. Saslaw, (D) would have presided over a RAT controlled body making the decision over who should succeed him.
Whoops. Try again.
Billy, I’m on your side with this one with respect to keeping the 17th, however Senators were elected by the votes of the ENTIRETY of the legislature. Even with a Dem State Senate in VA, the number of Republicans in the VA House would be enough to have kept both Webb and Mark Warner out of the U.S. Senate...
...And presuming they all voted in partisan lock-step:
The vote for Senator in an Allen-Webb contest for the term beginning in Jan 2007 would’ve been 80R-57D (with 2 or 3 Indies breaking R, so 82 or 83 in favor of Allen).
The vote for Senator in a Jim Gilmore-Mark Warner contest for the term beginning in Jan 2009 would’ve been 72R-66D (with both Indies breaking R, so 74 in favor of Gilmore).
Your obsessed with party and blind to nature, shall I repeat again what I’ve already said a thousand times?
It will only continue to go in one of your ears and out the other unobstructed.