American roulette

3 November 2008 By Martin Hutchinson

Future legislation hinges on the Senate makeup. If Obama wins and the Democrats get a filibusterproof majority of 60 seats, they can pass their legislative wishlist unchecked, including businessunfriendly items. With 12 Republican seats of 49 seriously contested, it’s close.

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The Democrats need 60 votes in the US Senate to overcome the possibility of Republican filibusters. Going into the 2008 elections, they had 49 of the 100 Senate seats, plus two independents, Bernie Sanders (IVT) and Joe Lieberman (I.CT) who voted with them on Senate organisation. The Republicans also had 49.

There are 35 Senate seats up for election, of which 23 are currently held by Republicans and 12 by Democrats. Of the 23 seats currently held by Republicans, 12 are seriously contested, in Alaska, Colorado, Georgia, Kentucky, Maine, Minnesota, one of the two Mississippi seats, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon and Virginia. There is also one seriously contested Democratic seat in Louisiana, where the incumbent Mary Landrieu (D.LA) is leading in polls.

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