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?
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