re: #113 dangerman

i know we all know this - where “two years” actually was four months

first, it was 56 Democrats and 2 Democratically-minded Independents. Not 58 Democrats.
Senator Kirk was appointed to Kennedy’s seat in August 2009. then they had sort of had the 60 votes - 58 + 2

60 votes lasted exactly 4 months - from August 2009 to February 2010
then Scott Brown was sworn in.

Wasn’t even four months, due to the flappadoodle about seating Sen. Al Franken.

On January 6, 2009, Coleman’s campaign filed an election contest, which led to a trial before a three-judge panel. The trial ended on April 7, when the panel ruled that 351 of 387 disputed absentee ballots were incorrectly rejected and ordered them counted. Counting those ballots raised Franken’s lead to 312 votes. Coleman appealed to the Minnesota Supreme Court on April 20. On April 24, the Minnesota Supreme Court agreed to hear the case. Oral arguments were conducted on June 1.

On June 30, 2009, the Minnesota Supreme Court unanimously rejected Coleman’s appeal and said that Franken was entitled to be certified as the winner. Shortly after the court’s decision, Coleman conceded. Governor Tim Pawlenty signed Franken’s election certificate that same evening.

en.wikipedia.org

The actual number of working days the Democrats had a Senate majority was twenty-four.