Weird convergence of news yesterday.
With Begich's victory, the Democratic caucus has grown to 58. With Franken and Martin, we could hit 60. Filibuster proof -- at least on paper. But imagine if the Democrats had voted to ejector-seat Lieberman from his chairmanship, and he had stormed off to the Republicans, as he had threatened.
The Begich win would've been nullified in terms of the caucus head-count. One step back to 57. Even if Martin and Franken both win, we would've been stuck at 59.