The Democrats are trying very hard to get to 60 in the Senate so that they can end filibusters and pass their liberal\/socialist legislation but even in their best case scenario, Politico only sees them getting to 56. Oh if that were only true!<\/p>\n
On his dreamiest Election Night, Sen. Charles Schumer has visions of picking off long-shot red states like Mississippi, Alaska and North Carolina, riding what he calls a \u201ctectonic\u201d shift that would endow his Senate Democrats with the elusive 60th vote.
\nBut as the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee chairman, Schumer is paid to be optimistic, and the reality is that even if Democrats run perfect campaigns across the country, the stars align and John McCain has absolutely no coattails, Democrats will most likely fall short of the filibuster-proof majority they so desperately seek.
\nRepublicans are girding themselves for losses in open Senate seats in Virginia, Colorado and New Mexico, and they fear that blue state Republicans like Sen. John Sununu of New Hampshire and Norm Coleman of Minnesota will go down, too.
\nBut even if Democrats win all those close races, they will end up with 56 Democrats grinding against a surviving corps of dedicated Senate conservatives, meaning the Senate may very well remain the burial ground for a liberal Democratic agenda \u2014 even under a President Obama or Clinton.
\nThat means that, despite all the rosy predictions for Senate election gains, the 2009 power dynamic in the Senate will almost certainly remain as the Founding Fathers intended: a chamber where both parties have to muddle through uncomfortable compromise to get much of anything done.
\nIt also means that, if Democrats take the White House, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) will be the Republicans\u2019 most important man, standing between a unified Democratic government and a sweeping change in policies on everything from the Iraq war to taxes to health care.
\n\u201cIt means those of us who are in the center, whether Democrats or Republicans are in control, will continue to play a key role on controversial issues,\u201d said Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who herself is one of Schumer\u2019s top targets. \u201cSixty is truly a magic number, but I consider it to be impossible. There won\u2019t be a different dynamic up here.\u201d
\nSenate election expert Jennifer Duffy of the Cook Political Report says that on a bad night, Democrats will pick up three seats and achieve 54 votes. On a good night, they might hit 57.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nWow! I think Collins’ prediction is the first positive one I’ve heard about the upcoming election. I guess they’re confident about it.
\nAnd then there’s this:<\/p>\n\u201cOur two [presidential] candidates have told me, \u2018If you only stay at 51 [Democrats], we\u2019ll have to curb what we can get done,\u2019\u201d Schumer said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Huh! Isn’t the messiah telling everyone who will listen that he can reach across the aisle to Republicans and get his agenda passed? In Obama’s post-partisan America, there are no longer Democrats or Republicans and everyone can work together for the good of the nation to do just what he wants to do. Why would he tell Schumer that he can’t accomplish his agenda with Republicans? Doesn’t he believe his own hype?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Democrats are trying very hard to get to 60 in the Senate so that they can end filibusters and pass their liberal\/socialist legislation but even in their best case scenario, Politico only sees them getting to 56. Oh if that were only true! On his dreamiest Election Night, Sen. Charles Schumer has visions of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[399],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics-2"],"yoast_head":"\n
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Oh if that were only true! On his dreamiest Election Night, Sen. 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