Obama Won’t Have 60 Senators to Back Him Up

by Tom Hess

President-elect Barack Obama will begin his term in January with a solid majority in both the House and Senate to enact his legislative priorities, but he won’t have enough Democrats in the Senate to silence Republican dissent. That’s because Democrats did not win the races they needed for a 60-seat majority, which would have allowed Majority Leader Harry Reid to invoke “cloture” and end a Republican filibuster.

To reach 60, the Democrats needed victories in Georgia and Kentucky. They didn’t get them. Republican incumbents Saxby Chambliss and Mitch McConnell won re-election, and Norm Coleman of Minnesota narrowly led profane comedian Al Franken, with 63 percent of precincts reporting.

With no more than 57 senators — one of them McCain ally Joe Lieberman — the Democrats can’t count on support for their Left-leaning initiatives. And Ben Nelson of Nebraska, a conservative Democrat, shares many of the perspectives of values voters.

Combined with the likely approval of three marriage amendments, the Senate results give values voters reason to stay tuned to developments on Capitol Hill. Watch for legislative alerts from CitizenLink throughout Obama’s first year in office.

‘We Need to Continue to be in Prayer for America’

by Tom Hess

With an Obama administration forthcoming, Focus Action’s Tom Minnery says, “We’ve got a big challenge ahead of us.”

He and FRC Action President Tony Perkins encouraged CitizenLink viewers to remain hopeful of what God might do in the next four years — and to be in prayer.

“For those who have been praying for weeks, our responsibility does not end today,” Perkins said. “In Luke 18, Jesus said men should not lose heart, but they should pray. We need to continue to be in prayer for America.”

Minnery pointed out that in the Bible, God worked through pagan rulers such as Nebuchadnezzar, Darius and Cyrus to accomplish his purposes, and that values voters ought to begin praying for President-elect Obama.

“God can use any president for his own purposes,” Minnery said.

Dems Unlikely to Grab 60-Vote Majority in Senate

If present trends continue, with The Associated Press and Fox News giving Virginia to Sen. Obama, the Illinois senator is on track to win the presidency with 353 electoral votes. He needs just 270 to win.

The hopes of values voters now rest with the hope that Democrats will not gain a 60-seat majority, which would give them the power to push through radical legislation.

So far tonight, it appears a 60-seat majority is unlikely, now that Georgia Sen. Saxby Chambliss and Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell have won re-election.

How did Obama win Ohio and Pennsylvania?

Both Pennsylvania and Ohio have been called for Sen. Barack Obama. So how did Obama win Ohio, home of “Joe the Plumber”?

Marc Ambinder of The Atlantic.com offered this analysis:

“Obama showed up.

“He went to places that John Kerry couldn’t afford to go …

“He campaigned in 18 different counties versus Kerry’s nine. He had twice the number of field offices and three times the number of staffers.

“In a place like suburban Cincinnati’s Butler County, Obama had more field offices and staff than Kerry had in Franklin in 2004 …

“He outspent McCain in the state …

“And the economy just killed McCain among independents … Obama won among whites making less than $50,000 …”

Polls close in two battleground states

Polls have closed in two key battleground states that could decide the presidential election, and so far there’s no evidence of a projected Barack Obama landslide. Instead, the races in Ohio and Pennsylvania remain too close to call. Ohio and Pennsylvania voted heavily for Hillary Clinton over Obama in the Democratic primaries.

Virginia gave John McCain a lead in early returns.

CitizenLink will closely watch results from Appalachia—Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia—throughout the evening.

Dr. Dobson’s October Newsletter

Dear Friends,