Winning the Senate AFTER November 4th

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Friday October 31, 2008 · 3:28 AM PDT

2008/10/31 · 03:28

The news media finally seem to have twigged to the major issue that will be decided on November 4th: do the Democrats get a filibuster-proof Senate? As commented in the first post, there’s a lot more too it than that, but the Senate is as good a place to start as any.
It’s a complex question, more complicated than just reaching 60 votes. The Senate can divide along the lines of particular issues, it can divide into sub-blocs and cliques and in a lot of other ways, so 60 votes isn’t always 60 votes. Contrawise, sometimes 57 votes is 60 votes, especially for GOP Senators from blue states, who may find themselves making up the difference sometimes in the face of elections in 2010. Instead of figuring out some mythical exact number needed (59? 62?), let’s assume instead that the more Democratic votes and the more Progressive votes, the better.
So, what about November 5th in the Senate?

Craignonumbers

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Thursday October 30, 2008 · 5:00 PM PDT

2008/10/30 · 17:00

Is the GOP actually "moving on" from the 2008 Presidential election better than we are? They’re going to lose, they know that they are going to lose, and they’re beginning the mental preparations necessary to carry on after their loss. Mr. David Frum, (Washington Post, Sunday the 26th) is actively selling the idea that the RNC should stop funding Senator McCain’s failed campaign. In the face of defeat, he’s busily figuring the only remaining angle that the GOP can play come Jan. 21st, 2009: the filibuster.
Now consider the example of Newt Gingrich in 1994. He didn’t just have a goal of taking over the House and Senate, he had an agenda for after the takeover, his "Contract with America".
And remember the infamous Grover Norquist quote about the barnyard animals? For several heady years, the GOP really thought that they had a permanent lock on the US political *thought process*. They didn’t just think that they could win elections, they believed that the USA was a "center-right" nation and that they could move the debate and the center of civil society further to the right than that. Question: are we ready for the day AFTER the election?

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Winning the Senate AFTER November 4th

The Republicans are ready for November 5th... Are we?