What happens to Mitch McConnell’s senate seat?

Scoop, ... 31 comments.

Three possibilities:

If Mitch keeps the seat, the GOP will be missing a vote until (and if) he can return. This could affect, for example, confirmation hearings.

If Mitch dies or resigns more than 56 days before his term expires, the governor must call a special election to select a temporary replacement to serve out the remainder of the term. A Republican victory would be overwhelmingly likely,

If Mitch dies or resigns 56 days or less before his term expires, there is insufficient time to legally set up a special election. In this scenario, the seat would remains vacant until the winner of the November election is sworn in.

Kentucky is one of five states where the governor cannot name a replacement.

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A fourth possibility: Democrats take the 2024 succession law to court and win.

In case a court voided the 2024 law in its entirety and treated the 2021 statute as controlling, Governor Andy Beshear would regain a tightly limited appointment power, but in no case could a Democrat get the seat.

Because McConnell is a Republican, the Kentucky Republican Party’s state executive committee would submit three names. Beshear would be required to appoint one of those three. The appointee must have been continuously registered as a Republican since December 31 of the preceding year. Beshear would have 21 days after the party submits its list to make the appointment. The statute does not clearly impose a deadline on the party committee for submitting the list.

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If Mitch can’t return to work:

For Republicans, the best scenario is for McConnell to resign now, with the effect that, assuming the same candidates run in the special election as in the main one, the GOP would be able to replace McConnell in November rather than January.

For Democrats, the best scenario is Zombie Mitch – for McConnell to remain alive without resigning, but unable to cast his votes. This could cost the GOP a vote in some crucial upcoming votes.

Colorized footage of Lou Gehrig taking BP in 1929

Scoop, ... 20 comments.

When serious baseball analysts debate the greatest hitter in history, it always comes down to Ruth, Williams and Bonds-with-an-asterisk. Gehrig is relegated to the near misses.

I think there is a good case to make that Lou Gehrig was a greater hitter than Ted Williams, or at least just as good, because Williams’ numbers were wildly inflated by Fenway Park.

Here are their lifetime records on the road.

Gehrig .351 .455 .645 1.100

Williams .328 .466 .615 1.081

There’s not a dime’s worth of difference between them.

If you take both Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park out of the calculation, Gehrig batted .351 in all other parks, while Williams batted .330, but their OPS’s are nearly identical.

Williams hit slightly better in three of their four common road parks. (They did not play at the same time, so some parks changed.) But Gehrig made up for that at Comiskey, where he terrorized the White Sox with a .380 average and an 1.164 OPS, while Williams struggled there with a .296 mark and a .954 OPS.