The Wall Street Journal
Democrats Envision Working Control Of the Senate
Fund-Raising Edge, Republican Retirements Provide Opportunity
By GREG HITT
March 5, 2008; Page A8
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The Democrats hold a 51-49 edge in the Senate. Sixty votes are needed to overcome opposition filibusters, and that is the Democrats' target. A more realistic goal is winning enough seats to build a working 60-vote majority through alliances with moderate Republicans. Republicans are far from ceding defeat. They stress that the political landscape could look much different later this year, especially if Sen. John McCain, who locked up the nomination yesterday, is able to attract independents to the party and sow public concerns that Democrats are too liberal to run the country.
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Even if the Democrats win both the presidency and solid control of both houses of Congress, history suggests it won't be easy to pass major legislation. The last time the party enjoyed such power, during President Clinton's first two years in office, a sweeping health-care overhaul championed by the Clintons went nowhere. More recently, President Bush couldn't persuade a Republican-led Congress in 2005 to get behind his drive to remake Social Security. Still, the possibility of a federal government dominated by Democrats is getting attention from interest groups of all stripes.
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In the war for money, Democrats are building on gains in the 2006 election, when party leaders began to break the long Republican edge. At the end of January, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the political arm of House Democrats, was sitting on a $35.5 million pot of cash. House Democrats pulled in $2 million last week at a fund-raiser at Washington's Union Station. The National Republican Congressional Committee, the GOP's House counterpart, had only $6.4 million. House Republicans hope a mid-March fund-raising dinner will bring in an additional $7.5 million. House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio recently exhorted fellow Republicans to get off their "dead a-" and step up efforts to fund the party, Republican officials said.
The House is likely to stay in Democratic control. Democrats currently have a 231-198 edge, with six vacancies, meaning Republicans need to win 16 seats to regain control. More than two dozen Republicans have decided to retire, compared with only five Democrats... Of the 11 House races rated by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report as toss-ups, 10 are Republican-held open seats. Democrats, who are making the economy a major focus of their campaign, have particularly strong chances of picking off seats in Minnesota, New Jersey and Ohio.
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In the fight for the Senate, Democrats are aiming to capture longtime Republican territory. Of the 35 Senate seats up for grabs, 23 are held by Republicans. "We feel the wind is at our back," says New York Sen. Charles Schumer, who heads the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the political arm of Senate Democrats. Dan Danner, executive vice president at the National Federation of Independent Businesses, said Democrats "could very easily" get to 57 seats this fall, a level that could open the door for initiatives such as expanded medical-leave benefits that his group opposes.
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