Today was a notable day for Democrats, because for the first time in almost 58 years, the state of Arizona now has two Democratic senators. Senator Mark Kelly -- astronaut and husband to Gabby Giffords -- was sworn in today, since the election he just won was a special election (meaning he didn't have to wait until January to take his oath). And I for one would like to thank outgoing seat-warmer Martha McSally for personally making this possible.

In 1952, Republicans began their rise to power in Arizona by electing Barry Goldwater to the Senate. For those who don't immediately recognize his name, the best way to describe him might be "Ronald Reagan before there was a Ronald Reagan in politics." Goldwater was "Mr. Conservative" personified (yes, people actually called him that). He was also the GOP's presidential candidate in 1964 (when he got crushed by Lyndon Johnson's historic landslide). Goldwater -- and Reagan, who followed in his ideological footsteps -- had an outsize influence on the Republican Party as a whole, dragging it far to the right in much the same fashion that Bernie Sanders has recently done (in the other direction, of course) for the Democratic Party. And after Goldwater, this Senate seat was held by none other than John McCain. That is the seat the Republicans just lost, which is why it's such a big deal.

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There's a Senate leadership battle going on in the Democratic caucus right now, but there's also a bigger issue at stake than just who gets to lead Democrats on the Judiciary Committee next year. The bigger reform Senate Democrats are now considering is whether they should adopt new rules to fundamentally change their leadership structure, to lessen the weight of seniority in office.

The specific committee leadership battle in question is being waged because Dianne Feinstein finally became convinced, after the most-recent Supreme Court justice confirmation hearings, that she had outstayed her welcome as the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee. Her move was applauded by many Democrats, it's worth noting.

But with DiFi stepping down, the top committee spot will open up. Normally, this would automatically go to the next-most-senior Democrat on the committee, which in this case would be Dick Durbin. However, another committee member, Sheldon Whitehouse, is making a bid for the job as well.

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After the long weekend, I'm kind of easing back into the political world, and I thought there'd be no better way to do that than to celebrate the impending return of First Pets to the White House. Joe and Jill Biden will be bringing their two dogs to live with them, and the news was announced over the weekend that they'll also be getting a new First Cat. From Jane Pauley on CBS yesterday:

And now some breaking news. President-elect Joe Biden and his wife Dr. Jill Biden won't just be bringing their German shepherds, Major and Champ, to the White House. The Bidens tell us exclusively that soon they'll be joined by a cat.

Apparently, this is due to Jill, who had said in an interview before the election: "Well, I'd love to get a cat. I love having animals around the house."

I have to say, this is exactly the return to normalcy that 80 million of us voted for. Donald Trump was unique in many ways (and that's putting it mildly), but one of them was breaking the long-standing tradition of having pets in the White House. In fact, you have to go back to the depths of the nineteenth century to find a period when there were no pets in the White House. According to Wikipedia, the last president before Trump not to have pets was officially James K. Polk, who served from 1845 to 1849. Andrew Johnson (1865-1869) doesn't really count, either, because I don't think that "fed white mice he found in his bedroom" truly qualifies as having presidential pets.

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[I have to begin here with a short program note. There will be no new column tomorrow or Friday. I may rouse myself from the tryptophan haze to post a re-run on Friday, but as of now, no promises. Regular columns will resume on Monday. Have a happy weekend, everyone!]

Since it's Thanksgiving-eve (or, at least, Thanksgiving-afternoon-before), I thought the most appropriate thing to write about today would be all the things I am thankful for. So here's my list of things which -- even after the most bizarre year anyone alive has ever seen in America -- I am still very thankful for, in no particular order.

Ready? Here goes.

I am thankful for...

...the continued health of all my friends and family. Nobody I personally know has died as a result of the pandemic. My heart also goes out to everyone who (sadly) cannot make the same claim.

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President Donald Trump is not going gentle into that good night. Far from it. But when I say that, I'm not talking about him tilting at the windmill of his election loss, but rather of what (hopefully) will be his final battle with Congress.

Congress is supposed to pass budgetary bills before the federal fiscal year starts in October. Being Congress, they are almost always late in performing this basic civic duty. This year is no different, so among all the other crises we face, we're actually now staring into the void of yet another government shutdown if some sort of "kick the can down the road" omnibus budget bill isn't passed in early December. But throughout most of these sadly-now-regular fights over the budget and shutdowns, Congress usually manages to at least pass the National Defense Authorization Act, which funds the Pentagon and our entire military.

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I spent some time today watching the end of the Michigan State Board of Canvassers meeting on television. Now, I'm a pretty wonky guy when it comes to politics, but even I never thought I would ever spend any of my time watching a state elections board perform their rather mundane duties. Over the years, I've watched more congressional hearings than I can count, but not since the year 2000 has anyone paid such close attention to the nuts-and-bolts inner workings of how votes are counted and certified in this country. And I certainly wasn't the only one watching -- the streaming on YouTube reportedly had over 30,000 viewers. For the Michigan State Board of Canvassers.

In the end, the board fulfilled their duty, as both Democrats on the board and one of the two Republicans voted to certify the previously-certified results of Michigan's 83 counties. The state board's job consists entirely of adding up the already-certified county results and certifying the final statewide total. That's it -- that's their entire job. Add 83 sets of numbers together and come up with the correct totals, and then certify the final numbers. The other Republican on the board didn't even vote against certification in the end -- he abstained.

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This isn't just the Keystone Kops, it's now a full-on Keystone Koup attempt. Before we get to any of it, however, we have to pause to wish Joseph Robinette Biden Junior a happy 78th birthday. Many happy returns, Joe!

Biden is now several steps closer to being sworn in as America's next president in less than nine weeks, as state after state certifies that Biden did indeed beat Donald Trump. Georgia did so today, and several other important states are slated to do so on Monday. By December 8th, all states will have done so and appointed their electors to the Electoral College.

Georgia officially going for Biden means, of course, that there is no viable route for Trump to get to the 270 votes needed to win the Electoral College. The head of the General Services Administration (Keystone Division) has so far refused to sign an "ascertainment" verifying Biden's win, however, and just issued her first post-election tweet. We are not making this up -- here is what Emily Murphy tweeted:

Dcccf Rex zzz. @#z@smaan anaNN

This, of course, prompted much hilarity online, with the best response being: "Dcccf Rex zzz come in. This is Covfefe. Do you copy?"

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I have to apologize in advance, because today's column has nothing whatsoever to do with politics. Regular readers know that on exceedingly rare occasions, I feel the need to comment about something completely separate from the political world. Sometimes I'll toss in my two cents on the subject of sports, or grammar, or anything else I feel so strongly about that I am compelled to share my thoughts. But I certainly never thought I'd ever devote an entire column to a television game show.

Recently -- and tragically -- we all mourned the death of Alex Trebek. The host of Jeopardy! was loved by millions, and for good reason. The show has long been a totally different kind of game show, and no, I'm not talking about the "respond in the form of a question" part of it. Unlike virtually every other game show on television, Jeopardy! contestants do not spend time yelling and screaming and emoting. Also, half of the show's time is not taken up with chitchat and other irrelevancies. It is a throwback to a much older style of game show, because the show's complete focus is on the game itself -- the trivia questions (or, more properly, answers) and the knowledge and speed of the contestants. More questions are posed on Jeopardy! in five short minutes than are asked on any other such trivia show (The Weakest Link, for example) in an entire hour. That's one reason why it is so fun to watch -- because you don't have to wade through a whole bunch of jumping up and down or faux-serious discussions between the host and the contestant, or any of the other nonsense the other shows use as "filler." There's only one very short segment of Jeopardy! where the contestants are briefly interviewed, and then the entire rest of the show is jam-packed with trivia. In other words, the game itself is the important thing -- not the contestants' ability to scream or the host's ability to endlessly fill up time.

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President Donald Trump is the lamest of lame ducks right now. He is so lost in his fantasy that he somehow didn't lose the election to Joe Biden that he has almost completely stopped even any pretense of doing his job. He rouses himself out of his funk to occasionally fire someone who has annoyed him in some way, but that's about it, really. Otherwise his time is consumed by all the sour grapes served up at his giant pity party.

Of course, whether Trump concedes to Biden or not is really immaterial. Trump can refuse to do so right up to 11:59 on the morning of January 20, and he will still cease to be president one minute later. Concessions have no legal value at all, in other words, they are merely a polite tradition. So why would anyone have expected Trump to do the polite and gracious thing?

However, Trump's royal snit is also having real-world consequences. He has refused to allow the transition of power to move forward, which doesn't just impact Joe Biden and his team, it affects all of America. By refusing to allow an ascertainment that Biden won, Trump is endangering our national security, plain and simple. Which is exactly what he swore an oath not to do.

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President Donald Trump has spent the past two weeks tweeting from his basement. If you ignore these tweets, he hasn't done much of anything else at all for that entire period of time. He laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier for Veterans Day, and he gave a very halfhearted announcement on the progress of the vaccine trials... and he's also played a lot of golf. So much golf. But you know what? Trump golfing or sulking in the basement is actually a lot better than Trump in a fit of rage, trampling things all over the place like a deranged Godzilla.

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