Life After Daschle: Will a 55-seat majority be enough to end ...

WSJ: Opinion Journal ^ | November 5, 2004 | Kimberly A. Strassel

[Zechariah11]

Life After Daschle Will a 55-seat majority be enough to end Senate obstructionism? BY KIMBERLEY A. STRASSEL Friday, November 5, 2004 12:01 a.m. EST

The pressure builds on those red-state Senators up for election in 2006. Is New Mexico's Jeff Bingaman going to vote down a Miguel Estrada nomination, with a state home to the largest proportion of Hispanics in the country? Look too for Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Bill Nelson of Florida, and Kent Conrad of North Dakota to be heeding the Ghost of Daschle's Past.

The GOP's best shot for leveraging this fear of home state voters is to let Democrats know they'll be ready with strong candidates who'll run campaigns that highlight any obstructionism, along with the voting record. Then 60 may not seem like such a big number after all.

[The G Man]

I think Democratic Senators from Red States hellbent on obstruction would do well to note that big smoking crater out in South Dakota that used to be Tom Dashcle's career.

[DBrow]

I think Kerry should become minority leader to replace Tom. The dems would never get anything done then; everything would be about Kerry.

"I once flew an Israeli fighter jet upside down over Gaza, so I can speak with authority on funding the Raptor UAV...."

[Tai_Chung]

I think the Democrats will continue their obstruction of judge nominees. Hopefully, the larger Republican majority will give them confidence to at least keep the Senate in session when the Democrats call for a filibuster.

[republicandawg]

Does anyone have a list of 06' senate races. We should start today looking for the magic 61 (Chafee is a lost cause).

[You Dirty Rats]

There are either 30 or 31 red states. No wonder we keep increasing our lead in the Senate. If the 'Rats keep playing games, soon they'll have less than 40 Senators. I think the remining 'Rats aren't going to hold the filibuster line; enough of them fear for their cushy seats.

[AFPhys]

I'm surprised that in this first paragraph that she didn't mention Johnson (D-SD) prominently. Daschle and the "promise of being in the Senate majority" were the major reasons Thune narrowly lost to him. He will be defeated unless he completely plays ball with Prez.Bush.

[youngtory]

All I know is that many Canadian farmers are happy to see him go. He was a huge problem to Canadian trade.

[NonValueAdded]

Draft Jeb to take on Bill Nelson in '06. You can't get a stronger candidate than Jeb.

[Sleeping Freeper]

Good analysis. I hope it pans out and Harry Reid also gets the message.

[republicandawg]

Jeb! Great idea, I never thought of that. Except, I'd like to see Jeb for Pres in 08'.

[Bob]

Draft Jeb to take on Bill Nelson in '06. You can't get a stronger candidate than Jeb.

Awesome idea -- I really like that.

[Huck]

Great article. I had been wanting to see some good analysis of the new political landscape, what 55 means to all of this, and this article laid it out pretty simple, and it sounds like very very good news. Let's roll.

[Aetius]

I can see a good chance of getting Nelson of Nebraska and Pryor of Arkansas.

I can see a decent chance of getting Baucas of Montana, Bingaman of NM, and Nelson of Florida.

I can see a small chance of getting Bayh of Indiana; though the problme there is that even though he is in a very Red state, he just easily won reelection w/o a serious challenge. He's very popular, and probably doesn't have anything to fear.

I can see a small chance of getting Landrieu of Louisiana, in about 2007 when she has to try and moderate herself in preparation for reelection the following year. I can't see her being helpful over the next few years.

I see no chance of getting Conrad of ND. I'm not sure how liberal his voting record is, but have you ever heard the guy talk? He can be quite shrill. If the ND GOP has a heavyweight on deck who can challenge him, then perhaps he might learn from Daschle, but if they fail to get one like they did this year against Dorgan then I can't see him bothering to try and appear conservative to his conservative electorate.

[Paleo Conservative]

I think Democratic Senators from Red States hellbent on obstruction would do well to note that big smoking crater out in South Dakota that used to be Tom Dashcle's career.

I wonder how Daschle is going to make house payments on his new $2 million house in DC? How effective can he be as a lobbyist when the Senate now has 55 Republicans? How effective will his wife be now that she is no longer the wife of the Senate Majority Leader.

[SaintDismas]

Draft Jeb to take on Bill Nelson in '06."

That's a great idea, never even crossed my mind!! I really have a wonderment about his ability to get nominated for Prez because of what people will say is Bush fatigue.

[Preachin']

"I'm surprised that in this first paragraph that she didn't mention Johnson (D-SD) prominently. Daschle and the "promise of being in the Senate majority" were the major reasons Thune narrowly lost to him. He will be defeated unless he completely plays ball with Prez.Bush."


Johnson won in 2002. This means he's not up again until 2008.

Of course, that will be a presidential election.

If the GOP fields a conservative candidate, Johnson will be history.

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

2006 Races

[Paleo Conservative]

I can see a decent chance of getting Baucas of Montana, Bingaman of NM, and Nelson of Florida.

But we might be able to knock off Nelson in 2006 with a strong candidate. McCollum in 2000 underperformed W in FL. Nelson will be at his most vulnerable as he would be running for reelection after his first term.

[republicandawg]

Thanks