Who helped pass the Stimulus package in the Senate? You can thank the people of New Hampshire, Virginia, New Mexico, North Carolina, and Colorado!

Hard to believe isn't it. Yes, I am pleased at the extra praise rightfully given to Senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snow, Republicans from Maine and Arlan Spector of Pennsylvania voting for the Stimulus bill. They really do deserve the praise for standing up against the Republican leader of the Senate, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and other Republicans but let's not also forget that if it wasn't also for new Democratic Senators elected in November the bill would never have passed. Here's the impact of your votes:

- Jeanne Shaheen new Democratic Senator of New Hampshire, who won a seat from a former Republican Senator John Sununu,
- Mark Warner, new Democratic Senator of Virginia, who also won an open seat which had been held by a Republican,
- Tom Udall new Democratic Senator of New Mexico who also defeated a Republican GOP Rep. Steve Pearce
- Kay Hagan Democratic Senator of North Carolina, who defeated Republican Elizabeth Dole and
- Mark Udall new Democratic Senator of Colorado who also defeated former GOP Rep. Bob Schaffer. Mark Udall is a cousin of Tom Udall.

So thank you my friends from New Hampshire, Virginia, New Mexico, North Carolina, and Colorado. Without you this Stimulus package would have certainly failed the final vote. And don't ever let anyone tell you again that your vote doesn't matter. The elections of 2008 changed all that forever. Just ask the soon to become Senator Al Franken, Democrat from Minnesota, who is about to defeat Republican Norm Coleman. Here's the latest on that race:

Al Franken gets boost over Norm Coleman in Senate race
Minnesota judges say Coleman hasn't shown a widespread absentee-vote problem.
Associated Press
February 14, 2009

St. Paul, Minn. -- The judges in Minnesota's U.S. Senate trial said in a preliminary ruling Friday that Republican Norm Coleman had not yet shown a widespread problem with absentee voters being denied the right to vote.

The three-judge panel ordered that rejected absentee ballots from 12 of 19 categories should not be counted in the Senate race.

Coleman, who is trying to undo Democrat Al Franken's 225-vote lead, had wanted to count ballots in all but three of the categories.

Coleman had argued that thousands of rejected absentee ballots were excluded inconsistently and should be counted, but Friday's ruling would limit the total number of ballots to be reviewed for counting.

"The facts presented thus far do not show a wholesale disenfranchisement of absentee voters in the 2008 general election," wrote judges Elizabeth Hayden, Kurt Marben and Denise Reilly.