We don't usually run political columns but we thought our readers would enjoy these comments by Lloyd Green. Described as a "savvy and sage political observer with a batting average far higher than Derek Jeter," Green casts a wry eye on the unfolding political follies:

America’s center convulsed. On Election Day the Republican Party was routed. But politics remain as entertaining and intriguing as ever.

Already, incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been lampooned on America’s Saturday Night Live program as not ready for prime time (“We Americans have always been a religious people, a member of my staff tells me”), and House Democrats rebuffed Representative Pelosi’s efforts to impose Pennsylvania Representative John Murtha as House Majority Leader. Murtha is a man who made his film debut in an FBI Abscam sting tape, and who said on national television that concerns over ethical lapses were “crap.” Pelosi has confused the constitutional office of House Speaker with being the nation’s ward heeler.

For their part, House Republicans have stuck with the same team that led them to their recent “thumpin.” House Republicans selected Representatives John Boehner of Ohio as Minority Leader, and Roy Blunt of Missouri as his deputy or “whip.” Neither man is reform minded. Senate Republicans were a bit more inspired in their leadership choices.

Senate Republicans selected Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell as minority leader. McConnell is a First Amendment champion, having opposed both campaign finance restrictions and a flag burning amendment. However, Republicans also named Mississippi Senator Trent Lott to be their whip over Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander. Lott’s claims to fame were vote counting, and having been forced out of the job of Senate Majority Leader in December 2002. At the time, Lott apparently lauded segregation and segregationist Senator Strom Thurmond at Thurmond’s 100th birthday party. Alexander’s qualifications were using “Lamar!” as his slogan during his failed 1996 bid for the Republican presidential nomination, and wearing a black and red plaid shirt on the campaign trail.

Still, a more interesting story may yet play out in the Senate. Would-be Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has been implicated in the Abramoff lobbying investigation, according to ABC News, while New York Senator Charles Schumer has been expounding on how the Democratic Party can grow its majority, while the press has been recounting how the Democrats dissed Senator Joe Lieberman, who in electoral triumph holds the balance of power in the Senate. Tellingly, Lieberman has concurred that his position in the Senate is akin to that of retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor who was the Court’s swing vote. The Democrats’ Senate majority thus hangs by a whim, a thread, or possible action by the U.S. Department of Justice.

During the campaign, pundits and papers had reported that Democratic staffers, and not just the liberal-left blogosphere, were talking about stripping Senator Lieberman of his seniority if Lieberman’s candidacy succeeded. At the time, Reid announced that he would not discuss committee assignments until after the November election. Reid’s refusal to silence the staffers starkly contrasts with then-Senator Howard Baker’s actions on the night of the 1980 New York Republican Primary for U.S. Senator.

That primary pitted incumbent Jacob Javits against upstart Al D’Amato. Senator Javits lost the primary. But on the night of Javits’ primary loss, Baker, the then-Senate Minority Leader, assured Javits that if he won in the general election, Javits would retain his seniority and remain the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. In the end, Javits lost. As a consolation prize of sorts, an ailing and aging Javits was named the committee’s honorary chairman for a single day in December 1980.

For the moment, Lieberman says that he will caucus as a Democrat. For the moment, Lieberman’s Democratic colleagues realize they messed up. Connecticut Senator Christopher Dodd, who turned on Lieberman after Lieberman lost the Democratic Primary, acknowledged that “we all make decisions, and those decisions have consequences.” Reid, a Nevadan and a former boxer, must have been imagining a desert landscape or one fight too many as he addressed the Lieberman kerfuffle by saying “we’re all family.

Yet, the reality is that Lieberman skipped a meeting of Connecticut’s Democratic Congressional delegation, and on Meet the Press, Lieberman indicated that he was not necessarily wedded to the Democratic Party.

Perhaps, it is worth remembering what another New England Senator, Jim Jeffords, did back in May 2001. Jeffords switched from being Vermont’s Republican Senator, and became an Independent who caucused with the Democrats. Jeffords’ switch gave the Senate Democrats a majority for 18 months. As a Republican, Jeffords was the chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and so as a reward for switching, the Democrats named Jeffords chair of the Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee.

History has a way of repeating itself, and of playing small tricks. If Lieberman switched to the GOP and kept his seniority, he would stand to be Chairman of the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, which would otherwise go to Maine Senator Susan Collins if the Republicans took control. The irony is that Collins, a friend of Lieberman, crossed party lines, endorsed and campaigned for Lieberman.

It will be fun to watch how all this plays out.