The Democrats’ hold on the majority in the U.S. Senate in January may be be tenuous at best. They have only a one-seat majority.
With the ongoing tension between Joe Lieberman and some Democrats, coupled with his refusal today on Meet the Press to rule out the possibility of switching his support to the Republican Senate caucus sometime in the future, that increases my concern about exactly how tenuous this Democratic majority might be.(more below)
It’s a little unsettling, at least for me, that the one person who may hold the key to the Democrats continuing to hold the majority in the Senate is Lieberman (though, to his credit, he is, for now, at least, sticking with his campaign pledge to caucus with the Democrats and, thus far being reasonably gracious to those Senate Democrats who supported Ted Lamont. Don’t get me wrong, am no great fan of Lieberman, but Lamont didn’t win, so we’re sort of stuck with what he have).
In any case, the purpose of this diary is to put forth the question of whether we think there are some Republicans that Senate Democrats might want to try to persuade to switch to the Democratic Party, as an insurance policy for holding the Senate at least through the next election cycle.
My question: Do you think there are any Republican Senators who might consider such a thing? If so, who?
Off the top of my head, the likeliest possibilities
(though none seem all that likely at this point) would be folks like Gordon Smith of Oregon, who will be facing a tough reelection in ’08, Norm Coleman of Minnesota, who will also likely be facing a tough re-election battle (though switching back to the Democratic Party after having already switched to the Republicans from that might make him look even more wishy-washy). Other possibilities, at least in terms of who Democrats might want to approach might include Susan Collins of Maine (Maine seems to appreciate independent-minded people over partisans) and, perhaps Chuck Grassley of Iowa (he’s at least tried to create an image of himself as being independent-minded in the past). Anyone else? Or is this just a rhetorical question, so unlikely to be of benefit as to not be worth the exercise of discussion further.
Just a thought, and just some questions.
To me, it seems the Democrats should be putting out some feelers, at least to Smith and Collins?
Good question. I don’t know enough about senators in other states, but I assure you, neither Liddy Dull or Richard Brrrrrr here in NC would be caught dead being progressive.
Will be interesting to see otherw weigh in.
You probably know more about Liddy Dolt and Mr. Brrr than me, but, yes, they would seem to be among the unlikeliest of folks to even consider such a thing. They both seem like solid Republican partisans.
The ONLY reason Norm Coleman is in the senate is because Cheney cleared the way for him with other Republicans in MN who wanted to run against Wellstone. So no, I don’t see any potential for flipping with him.
Before Coleman agreed to run, he had said publicly that he was not interested in a legislative position, he saw himself as an executive (Mayor, Governor, etc) I’m just gloating a bit these days that now Norm is stuck not only in a legistlative position, but he’s now in the minority.
Coleman sounds a tad bit like a political opportunist to me. Might we be able to exploit that instinct? Not all would be lost. After all, we could still support Al Franken in a primary against a Democratic Coleman.
Seriously, though: you’re right, Coleman switching to the Democratic Party would probably be political suicide for him. He would lose what little credibility he has left.
We’ve got enough problems with our own republicans on the democratic side. Short of Chaffee, who’s a goner, I don’t see any current republican who would flip.
There is no way on God’s green earth that Grassley will change parties. It isn’t in him to ride the winds of electoral chnages. It wouldn’t play in Iowa. Sitting Senators changing parties is rare and usually in response to ongoing conflicts that boil over. This election was great for the Dems, but it would take several more like it before you see incumbents changing parties.
I believe both of Maine’s Senators are really RINO. The could easily be democracts in another time frame, but the precedent for switching is just not really in vogue, probably for good reasons!