The TAKE with Rick Klein
The declaration came definitively, if belatedly: #metoo has to mean them, too.
The coordinated push to get Sen. Al Franken to resign reflects a new, cleaner, and more internally aggressive approach by top Democrats to demonstrate accountability in their own ranks.
Until this week, no national political figure faced the fate that an array of entertainment and media figures have met during this extraordinary last few months.
If Franken does what his colleagues are calling for and steps down, the onetime 2020 contender will join the longest-serving House member in vacating their seats this week. Both are Democrats.
Contrast that with the GOP, where Roy Moore now has the support of President Donald Trump, the Republican National Committee, and a still-growing number of Republican senators going into Tuesday's election in Alabama.
All offenses are not even close to equal. And the latest Democratic pushes out the door may look like an attempt to reclaim moral high ground in a pile of stories where most everybody in power seems tiny.
Still, at this moment that is broader than politics, there's a growing partisan split in how powerful figures are being held accountable.
The RUNDOWN with MaryAlice Parks
Two months after the shooting massacre in Las Vegas, House Republicans passed a gun bill.
While the bill included language to revamp the national instant background system, the House Republicans' bill made clear -- despite the uptick in deadly mass shootings -- they are moving forward on what looks more like an any gun, anytime, anywhere agenda.
The core of the so-called "conceal carry reciprocity" bill would override individual state rights and compel those states with stricter regulations to honor a concealed carry permit issued by any other state.
"We're a Senate vote away from guns in Times Square on New Years Eve," New York's State Attorney General Eric Schneidermantweeted after the vote passed 231-198.
It was a piece of legislation deemed a top priority of the National Rifle Association and would arguably facilitate the access to and pervasiveness of firearms.
Interestingly in passing this specific bill, Republicans ignored pleas from one of their usual allies. Many local enforcement agencies had lobbied against the legislation.
THE TIP with John Verhovek
What will happen to Senator Al Franken's seat if he resigns?
Minnesota state law stipulates that in the event of a vacancy in the U.S. Senate, a special election "shall be held at the next November election if the vacancy occurs at least 11 weeks before the regular state primary preceding that election."
In this case, if Franken were to resign on Thursday or in the coming days, a special election would be held in November 2018 to replace Franken since we are more than 11 weeks out before the regular state primary, which is scheduled for August 14, 2018 in Minnesota.
Before that election, that same state law says that Governor Mark Dayton, a Democrat, "may make a temporary appointment to fill any vacancy" until a permanent successor is elected and sworn in. That elected successor would then serve out the rest of Franken's term until 2020.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"As elected officials, we should be held to the highest standards — not the lowest. The allegations against Sen. Franken describe behavior that cannot be tolerated. While he's entitled to an Ethics Committee hearing, I believe he should step aside to let someone else serve." — Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in a tweet that was followed by more than two dozen similar statements from fellow senators.
NEED TO READ
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