It's so, Joe

Democrats Let Lieberman Keep Senate Chairmanship: It's magnanimous (and I suppose one could argue will at least store up some good karma...)

"Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, the Democrat-turned-independent from Connecticut, was allowed to keep his chairmanship of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Tuesday despite his support for Senator John McCain in the presidential campaign."

Democratic senators voted instead to oust Mr. Lieberman from the Environment and Public Works Committee, where he had been chairman of a subcommittee. That penalty was a slap on the wrist compared with the prospect of losing the homeland security leadership post.

“He’s part of this caucus,” the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, said after the Democratic caucus voted behind closed doors in the old Senate chamber off the Capitol Rotunda. “We are not looking back. We are looking forward.”

In addition, Senate Republicans decided to take the "wait and see" approach with Ted "I never wanted that massage chair" Stevens:

On the other side of the aisle, Senate Republicans deferred action on any move to expel Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska because of his recent conviction on felony charges that he failed to report numerous gifts. The Republicans prefer to wait for the result of the election, in which Mr. Stevens currently trails his Democratic opponent, Mayor Mark Begich of Anchorage, with some absentee ballots still to be counted.

The Republicans’ action, or non-action, came on Mr. Stevens’s 85th birthday.

Happy birthday, Ted.