Who SHOULD be Senate Minority Leader?

[Gringo]

The affable Tom Daschle has praised Mr. Bush more highly than Faux News.

Who should be his immediate replacement?

[ButterflyBlood]

1. Why would any DUer vote for Bayh?

I mean seriously. For that matter why would anyone vote for Feinstein over Boxer too.

[jiacinto]

23. Bayh is a good Democrat

If you actually went to Project Vote Smart you'd see that.

[goobergunch]

35. From PVS:

ADA Rating (2002): 70
ADA Rating (2001): 100
ACLU Rating (2001-02): 60
LCV Rating (2001-02): 56
NAACP Rating (2001-02): 88

National Journal 2002 ratings:
LIB 59%-CON 41%

http://www.vote-smart.org/issue_rating_category.php?can_id=CNIP9107

Not hyperconservative (like Miller), but I'd still rather have Boxer or another liberal.

[robcon]

28. Limited choices - useless poll

Where is Bob Graham? Where is Chris Dodd?

[IndianaGreen]

31. A DUer that doesn't live in Indiana would vote for DINO Bayh

I am wondering too about that Bayh vote, it made me recoil in disgust. Obviously that vote was not cast by a Hoosier! I heard a lot of negative comments about Bayh and the DLC when I attended the Indiana Democratic Party annual bash, Jefferson-Jackson Dinner.

Howard Dean gave the keynote, and he is no Evan Bayh!

This poll does have some excellent choices though such as Boxer, Feingold, and Harkin (Byrd is too old), and some real losers such as Bayh and Feinstein.

______________________________________________________________________

"I am now convinced more than ever that it was a mistake to have given this administration a blank check to engage in this war - as too many in Congress did when they supported the Iraqi war resolution."

-- Howard Dean

[AnnabelLee]

2. I voted for Barbara Boxer

Feingold is my Senator, & I have great respect & liking for him, but IMHO, he wouldn't want to be leader & it wouldn't fit his personality. Barbara Boxer is a tough-as-nails liberal, & I believe she would excel at the cajoling, corralling, & deal-making that is required of an effective leader in the Senate. I also think that if she was leader, she would see to it that an effective & supportive defense was mounted when a Dem spoke out with criticism of * & was attacked for it by the Rove machinery.

[Cheesehead]

4. You're absolutely right

Feingold is a wonderful senator, but his strength lies in his independent nature and strong stands on issues he he feels passionate about, not "rallying the troops" either in support of an agenda or in opposition to the administration. Boxer is an excellent choice. :thumbsup:

[AnnabelLee]

8. Hi, Cheesehead!

:hi: Comin' at ya from about 150 miles south of where you are!

[mitchtv]

9. count me in-Boxer

a fighter

[PurityOfEssence]

19. Me too

I've got one good Senator (her) and a good rep (Xavier Becerra), so I'm much luckier than most for representation.

She's feisty and principled; it's time to fight hard.

[Gringo]

3. This is the REAL Sen Majority leader Poll

Technical problems spawned a couple of dupes. In case you voted in one of those, try voting in this one to be sure your vote is counted.

Heck, we could send this one to the winner's office!

[AnnabelLee]

5. I'll try to keep it kicked

to get more votes. I think it would be cool to send it to the winner's office!:-)

[Cocoa]

6. keep Daschle

anyone who attracts so much hatred from the likes of Rush Limbaugh must be doing something right.

[Pepperbelly]

7. Yep ...

Daschle has done well for the party considering how few votes he has to play with.

[salin]

11. I'm for keeping Daschle... but...

if he were to get tired of it - I say go for Harkin. In a very common sense/plain speaking way he gets progressive, working/worker issues out there in ways that are hard not to agree with. Plus he has a nice bit of fire to him.

[sandnsea]

10. John Kerry, if not the President

He's the best of the bunch as far as I can see.

Barbara Boxer's heart is in the right place, but from what I've seen, she babbles too much. Sorry, that's just how I see her. When she's supposed to ask questions, she ends up going on and on about what she thinks. That doesn't hold anybody's feet to the fire or hold anybody accountable for their actions.

[moondust]

12. Dick Durbin, D-IL.

This guy is solid as a rock on the Senate floor. Unlike Daschle, he doesn't have to keep looking over his shoulder to see if the folks back home approve of every little thing he does because home for him is solid Dem country. Illinois deserves the position.

[NewJerseyDem]

13. Reid? Dodd?

What about Harry Reid of Nevada and Chris Dodd of Conncecticut. Those people actually want it and were planning on running if Daschle ran for President and resigned as minority leader. Or at least someone like a Byron Dorgan who is in the leadership. As far as I know none of the people here have really expressed much interest in a run for minority leader.

[leftofthedial]

14. WILL PITT!!!

'til then, it's the old soft shoe.

[AnnabelLee]

15. Kick

:kick:

[AnnabelLee]

16. One more

:kick:

[Gringo]

17. Thanks for the support Annabel

I'll root it out and kick it in the morning. G'night.

[CMT]

18. regarding Hillary being a "frosh" senator

Lyndon Johnson was in his first term in the senate when he was elected Senate Minority Leader. He then went on to be the Greatest Majority Leader the Senate ever had.

[Liberator_Rev]

20. Let the Republicans choose the MINORITY leader!

We need to choose the Majority leader, and I would like to know why Democrats don't have the testicles to challenge the legitimacy of the most debatable of black box elections, such as Chuck Hagel's.
How many Americans know that he was elected thanks to voting machines and software provided by the company of which he was CEO?!? That's the equivalent of a judge declaring that he or she was the world champion ice-skater: See for yourself at
http://www.LiberalsLikeChrist.Org/about/Hagelsmachines.html !

Without this ONE senate seat, the G.O.P. would NOT have been in the majority in recent years !!!

[Gringo]

22. I Like Your Point

Let's consider the poll amended to mean "majority leader" when we achieve a majority.

[arcos]

21. Byrd is the past, not the future...

"Continuing his upward trajectory, Senator Byrd became a member of the Senate Leadership in 1967, when he was selected by his colleagues as Secretary of the Democratic Conference. In 1971, he was chosen Senate Democratic Whip. In 1977, he was elected Democratic Leader by his Democratic colleagues, a position he held for six consecutive terms. For the 12 years he held the position of Democratic Leader -- from January 1977 through December 1988 -- Senator Byrd served as Senate Majority Leader six years (1977-80, 1987-88) and as Senate Minority Leader six years (1981-86)."
http://www.senate.gov/~byrd/bio.htm

I think that would be looking to the past and not the future. I definitely respect him a lot, he has a lot of balls. But I don't think it would be wise at all to have him as Senate leader.

[UTUSN]

24. Minority Leader---------Saint FRIST n/t

[soupkitchen]

26. good post

beat me to it by four minutes

[soupkitchen]

25. The Senate Minority Leader should be a Republican

I thought I posted a variation of this earlier but obviously its not on the board.

[UrbScotty]

27. Minority leader? Frist. Majority Leader? Feingold.

[Gringo]

29. THIS is the real minority leader thread

Amazing, someone went wayyyy down into the posts from yesterday, to vote in a lousy glitch-dupe.

[Woodstock]

30. Daschle's a good little boy - he works with the pResident

Enough already! He should step down.

From this month's Washington Monthly:

I recently saw Tom Daschle, complete with flip charts, bragging on C-SPAN how Senate Democrats had blocked only two of President Bush's judicial appointments. Even that bastion of conservatism, The Washington Times, concedes that despite all the wailing of right-wingers, Bush has seen more of his appellate court nominees confirmed by the Senate at this point in his term "than any other president since at least the 1970s." With the conservatives clearly dominating all but one of the appellate courts, Daschle should, instead of bragging about how many Bush appointees he has confirmed, make sure he and his colleagues carefully scrutinize not just a couple of appointees, but every single one.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2003/0307.tilting.html

[MoonGod]

32. Patrick Leahy...

... Okay, maybe he's got some dark secrets I don't know about, but everything I know about him makes me think he'd be a great choice...

[IndianaGreen]

34. Leahy was an enthusiastic supporter of PATRIOT Act

He even brought his camera to the signing ceremony to take pictures of Bush signing the death sentence of the Bill of Rights.

In this photo you can see Democratic Senators Leahy, Reid, and Graham witnessing the death of the Bill of Rights as our Glorious Fuehrer signs the PATRIOT Act:



SHAME!

[Walt Starr]

33. Dick Durbin

No doubt he would be the absolutely best minority leader the Democrats put up.