Dick Durbin didn’t lose his position as Majority Whip of the U.S. Senate, but he did lose some of his power to Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York.
“We lost some of the American people because we were so hyperfocused on policy we allowed ourselves to get on the defensive,” said Senator Claire McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat who will be on the ballot next time. “If you want to pick somebody to help you get on offense, Chuck Schumer is the right guy.”
Officially, Mr. Schumer will be both vice chairman of the Democratic caucus and chairman of the Democratic Policy Committee. In those roles, he will also share control over the party’s messaging apparatus run out of the Senate Democratic Communications Center, better known as the war room.
I like this move because Schumer knows how to fight, how to score political points, and how to make an argument. You can’t say that Schumer is more liberal than Durbin, but you can say that he’s a partisan and that he will advise Reid on how to use procedure to maximum advantage.
