Seven Senate Democrats joined with Republicans to deliver a humiliating defeat to President Obama and to the far left race demagogues. Debo P. Adegbile, head of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, and an avid supporter of convicted cop-killer Mumia Abu Jamal, failed to receive confirmation as the next head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, despite operating under the new rules instituted by Harry Reid requiring only a simple majority for confirmation. It is the first defeat for an Obama nominee under the simple majority system.

I wrote about the confirmation vote yesterday, predicting that it would put Senate Democrats on the sport, having to choose between courting blacks and respecting law enforcement, including the major union the Fraternal Order of Police, which was dead set against confirmation of Adegbile. To my surprise, however, the marhin of defeat did not come mostly from vulnerable Democrat senators facing the voters this year. Richard Baehr sent this analysis:

It is very interesting that of the 7 Dems whom voted no, only 2 up in 2016:  Arkansas, which has one of the lowest black populations in the South (just over 15%), and Montana , which has virtually  no blacks. Mary Landrieu (30% black in Louisiana), Kay Hagan (20% black in North Carolina), John Warner (20% black in Virginia) all stuck with the nominee so as not to tick off black voters.  Coons from Delaware is from a state that gets lots of news about this case, because Abu Jamal killed Officer Daniel Faulkner in Philadelphia, whose television statiosn reach most of Delaware.  

Senator Casey deserves a lot of praise for leading the charge on this. I already liked him for being one of few pro-life democrats who stuck with his views, unlike Dick Durbin and Harry Reid who also used to be pro-life.

The other 3 Dem no votes are from GOP states: Indiana, West Virginia, and North Dakota.  Indiana and Delaware of course were tea party-blown Senate races. The North Dakota race was inexplicable -- Romney wins by 20, Heitkamp wins by 1.

The biggest mistake may have been Alaska Senator Begich. I doubt his vote for nominee will play well. And some blue dogs in Louisiana may also be unhappy with Landrieu.