Three Powerful Committee Chairmen Fall

The Wall Street Journal reports:

Three Democratic committee chairmen — Reps. John Spratt of South Carolina and Ike Skelton of Missouri along with Sen. Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas — were ousted Tuesday night, illustrating how Republicans were able to take out some of Congress’s most powerful incumbents.

Mr. Spratt, who chairs the House Budget Committee, lost to state senator Mick Mulvaney, a development that could have an immediate impact on the near-term budget plans for the Obama administration. Mr. Spratt has been in Congress for 14 terms and is on the White House’s bipartisan deficit reduction commission, which is supposed to issue recommendations on how to balance the budget by Dec. 1.

Historic.