Mitch McConnell emerged from the hole near the Capital Building he’s cultivated for himself over his 30-year run in the United States Senate to a crowd of onlookers eager to see if the fascinating little critter would see his own shadow this year. As McConnell pulled himself through the dirt laden hole and wiped himself off, as he does every morning, he looked down, somewhat spooked and fascinated (we’re not quite sure what emotion it was to be honest as he always just looks kind of disappointed) with something on the ground. He tilted his head back and forth a few times, like a dog hearing a new sound for the first time, and after a few minutes of staring he fetched his briefcase from the hole and darted across the lawn, up the stairs and into the Capital Building. Onlookers could only shake their heads as they knew McConnell had seen his shadow and, as Benjamin Franklin wrote in his first Farmer’s Almanac, that will mean six more weeks of political gridlock for our legislature.

Onlookers came to see ole Punxxutawney Filibuster, some hoping he would walk right in and their desired nominees would be able to start very soon, while others cheered as he saw his shadow meaning there was still hope that these nominees would be voted down. One onlooker said “If they would approve a real nominee for head of the EPA then we wouldn’t have to concern ourselves with the fact that, no matter what that groundhog saw, there have been like 2 weeks of winter this year.”