George on George: Will Takes a Look at LeMieux

Conservative columnist George Will-- and, like your humble blogger, a proud product of Trinity College --offered an interesting take on outgoing U.S Sen. George LeMieux in Newsweek.

LeMieux says leaving is bittersweet, in part because senatorial graciousness survives even todays partisanship, wrote Will. So in 2012 he might run against Sen. Bill Nelson. This is probably unprecedented -- two Senate colleagues from the same state anticipating a contest for a Senate seat in the next cycle.

If LeMieux does run, his slogan might be: On to 2007! continued Will. 'That was,' he says, the last good year, and he asks: 'Would it result in grinding austerity for government to live for a while as it did then?' He says that if federal spending were held at the 2007 level for 10 years, the budget would be balanced in 2013 and the national debt, currently $13.7 trillion, would be less than $7 trillion in 2020, with annual savings of hundreds of billions in debt-service costs. 'Absent action,' he says, 'interest payments in 2020 on a debt of $26 trillion will be $900 billion.'"

Will also offered a look at 2012 -- when the Sunshine State will, once again, be up for grabs.

Florida, which is ground zero for housing foreclosures and has an 11.9 percent unemployment rate, swung to the right on Nov. 2, producing record Republican majorities in the state Legislature, noted Will. LeMieuxs home is in Fort Lauderdale, in Broward County, which has a population about the size of Nebraskas. When the economy recovers, Florida will replace New York as the third-most-populous state. As a result of the 2010 Census, Florida, the most important swing state in presidential politics, will in 2012 probably get two more congressional seats -- and electoral votes. Exactly 10 years ago, the nations attention was riveted by Floridas hanging chads and other excitements of the Bush-Gore election. Twenty-three months from now, the presidency could hang in the balance as Floridians weigh the kinds of policies LeMieux advocates.