Next president likely to create some Senate vacancies

With the next president coming to the Oval Office straight from the Senate, Cabinet appointees next year could have a distinctly senatorial flavor. And that means congressional vacancies.
In fact, if John McCain or Barack Obama appoints even two or three senators to the executive branch, the vacancies in the upper chamber could shift the balance of the next and future Congresses by multiple seats, as many potential appointees come from states where they would be replaced by governors of the opposite party.