An intriguing development -- Sen. Russ Feingold has joined with Sen. John McCain and new Alaska Senator Mark Begich) to require states to hold elections for U.S. Senate vacancies.

Some people are calling this the 28th amendment, out of anticipation that it really might move. We'll see.

Sen. Feingold's detailed statement on it is powerful The core provision is:  "No person shall be a Senator from a State unless such person has been elected by the people thereof. When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies. "

FairVote's analyst David Segal published a commentary in the New York Times on January 25th calling for such an amendment, and we issued our first report and commentaries in favor of electing Senate vacancies back in 2007. Stay tuned...