Dem Leaders Hope for New 60 Seat Majority, But on Whose Coattails Can They Get It?

[K Gardner]

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/030708J.shtml

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Senate Democrats Hope for a Majority Not Seen in 30 Years: 60 Seats
By David M. Herszenhorn
The New York Times

Friday 07 March 2008

Washington - When Mark Begich, the popular 45-year-old mayor of Anchorage, came to town for a meeting of mayors in January, he was beckoned to the Capitol by the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada. There was one agenda item: ousting Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska, the senior Republican in Congress.

For 45 minutes, Mr. Reid and Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, the head of the Democrats' campaign efforts, pressed the mayor to run this year. Last week, they got him. Mr. Begich announced that he had formed a committee to start raising money. Effectively, the race is on.

For Democrats hoping the November elections set off a seismic shift in Washington, the dream scenario is not just capturing the White House, but also winning a filibuster-proof majority of 60 seats in the Senate - a luxury no president has enjoyed since Jimmy Carter 30 years ago.

As far-fetched as that might seem - Democrats now control the Senate by a razor-thin 51 to 49, thanks only to two independents who vote with them - some Democrats have started thinking aloud that such a scenario is within reach.

From the Northeast to the Southwest, the Democrats have such a strong hand in this year's Senate contests that they sense the possibility of victories in unlikely states like Oklahoma and Mississippi, and now even Alaska, which last elected a Democratic senator in 1974.

"It's a remote possibility, but it is within the realm of plausible," said Paul Starr, a public affairs professor at Princeton University and a liberal commentator.

Numbers help tell the story. Republicans have 23 seats to defend, including five left vacant by retiring incumbents, while the Democrats have just 12, with a competitive race expected only in Louisiana. Even there, the incumbent, Mary L. Landrieu, is still a heavy favorite.

The presidential race, too, seems to cut in the Democrats' favor. In many states, there has been record voter turnout in the primaries, but far more for the Democrats. About 28.5 million people have voted in Democratic primaries so far, compared with more than 17.3 million in Republican races, said Curtis Gans, director of the Center for the Study of the American Electorate at American University.

Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, in particular, has shown the capacity to ignite turnout among younger voters and blacks, and Democratic strategists believe he could have longer coattails than Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York in states like Minnesota and Oregon, where Democrats hope to gain seats held by Republicans.

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(I would easily predict nothing remotely like this will happen if the leaders turn a BLIND EYE to what Hillary is doing to her own party and the electorate of millions that are turning out this year for Change and Hope)