Ezra Klein: Democrats Do Not Have 60 Votes

[flpoljunkie]

Photo credit: By Richard A. Lipski -- The Washington Post

The fact that the Democrats have 60 seats in the Senate occasionally obscures more than it illuminates. This Jon Walker post, for instance, makes a lot more of the fact that Democrats have 60 votes. But they don't, really. They have 60 seats. Not all of those people are votes. Ben Nelson and Evan Bayh and Mary Landrieu and Blanche Lincoln and Joe Lieberman are not reliable supporters of liberal causes, and no one seems to have a lever capable of controlling their votes.

That's not to diminish the importance of 60 seats: If Democrats didn't have 60 seats, then passing health-care reform (or anything big) through the normal Senate order would simply be impossible because Republicans would kill it no matter what they were promised. Because Democrats do have 60 seats, passing health-care reform (or anything big) means making a lot of unpleasant compromises with the few members of your coalition who will scuttle the bill if their demands aren't met.

People think of Ben Nelson as a Democrat, which he technically is. But it's probably more useful to think of him as a somewhat conservative Republican who isn't inclined to support filibusters and can be bought off with the right combination of policy changes and giveaways to Nebraska. Democrats don't have 60 votes so much as they have 56 votes with the option for four or five more. And exercising that option is not a pleasant or dignity-preserving experience.

By Ezra Klein | October 15, 2009; 2:49 PM ET

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2009/10/democrats_do_not_have_60_votes.html

[BeyondGeography]

1. Now there's a photo of some big thinkers

:sarcasm:

It's a wonder any progress is made, really.

[undeterred]

2. We need to elect people who will vote Democratic

to those Democratic seats.

[Thrill]

4. Its always been like this. At least since Raygun

Clinton had to deal with guys like Shelby masquerading as Democrats.

[paulk]

15. and the way Clinton dealt with Shelby is something that Obama

could learn from...

http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19970319&slug=2529543

[Thrill]

3. They need to be loyal and vote for cloture

They don't have to vote for the bill. But they need to be Democrats and vote for cloture

[kestrel91316]

5. I thought we only needed 51 votes to pass legislation.

[kenny blankenship]

10. Nah. That's only good for Republicans.

Republicans could outlaw puppies, baseball, applepie and the internet with 51 votes, but we're not Republicans.

We have to get Republicans to agree with us or else it doesn't count as a good idea or a law.

[vaberella]

6. This is not news, it always seems to be posted as such.

I've been railing about Conservadems and Lieberman for ages. Lieberman not as much as the others because we always really knew where that clown stood, but the Conservadems for sure. Them and the BlueDogs, these people go Dem because they think it will give them the votes- but in reality they're really Repubs at best. And if anything fails, it's their fault...not so much even the Repubs. That's the thing about Repubs, when they are with each other, they tend to stick with each other, even if they may bitch amongst each other. Dems?! They tend to eat their own for future advancement or whatever is more useful to them, at times. We see this with some of the people on the left and their relationship with O but they disclose it as "keeping his feet to the fire." In some cases it's rarely sincere.

[Duke Newcombe]

7. Duke Newcombe: Democrats do not NEED 60 votes, genius!

I don't care if it's 50 plus Joe the Biden throwing in the tiebreaker. This will get done.

Perhaps Ezra should work for Microsoft. He's so good at the whole FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) thing.

[flpoljunkie]

8. Ezra's not the problem. It's the Conservadems who are the problem.

Take Lieberman. Lieberman said months ago his cloture vote to take up the bill on the Senate floor was not certain. In fact, he smirked as he said it to Andrea Mitchell on her MSNBV show.

[beachmom]

9. Thank you for this post! Some common sense from Ezra.

The netroots will pay it no mind, of course.

[krawhitham]

11. Blue Dogs either vote for closure or they get no money for re-election

It is that simple

[flpoljunkie]

12. Congress responds to Seniors' concerns because they complain and they vote in huge numbers.

Campaign contributions from special interests aside.

[andym]

13. bribe them with juicy addons for their states and threaten them with loss of committee power... nt.

[Hippo_Tron]

14. That's a good way of thinking about it...

[Honeycombe8]

16. Dems don't really have 60 SEATS, do they? I mean, Lieberman is an I.

That's 59.

And isn't there another Independent? Bernie Sanders...is he a Senator, or is he in the House? He's a Socialist, not a Dem.

That's 58.

[TomCADem]

17. In A Nutshell, Bribe Ben Nelson

A brutally honest article if you ask me.