How can everybody get this wrong?

Argh! I keep seeing this — news articles that say the GOP gets control of the Senate if Allen somehow wins Virginia. From USA Today, for example:

If Allen prevailed in a vote challenge, the houses would be split between the parties.

No no no no no!

No!

If Allen prevailed, the Senate would be split 50-50. (The two independents have both said they’ll canvas with the Dems.) Yes, yes, in a tie vote the vice president gets to cast the tiebreaker, and obviously Cheney is a Republican.

But that’s only when votes come up and come to a tie. When it comes to the more important things, e.g., committee chairs, the Senate is tied. Tied.

And that hasn’t happened since (as I mentioned earlier) 1881.

There are no rules for how committees should be handled in a tie, because political parties are outside the Constitution. Would each committee have a split leadership? Would the committees themselves be split, some to the Dems and some to the Reps? No one knows. And — if Allen actually had a chance at winning — it would be an incredibly important question.

So someone has to tell these writers and editors to check their history and get a better read on what a tied Senate means. Grr.