GOP, Democrats assessing new Senate makeup
Although election officials have yet to determine the winner of the 2000 presidential race and the political fate of Sen. Slade Gorton, R-Wash., Republican and Democratic party leaders have turned to the task of assessing the consequences of a Senate split 50-50.
Senate Democrats, who knocked off five GOP incumbents while suffering one loss of their own in Tuesday's elections, are waiting for Washington state election officials to tally absentee ballots to see if Gorton maintains the approximately 4,000 vote lead he has over former Democratic Rep. Maria Cantwell.
"We've had an overwhelmingly successful election night," said a spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. "We've knocked off four and probably five Republican incumbents."
Rep. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., today claimed victory over GOP Sen. Spencer Abraham, who joins Sens. William Roth of Delaware, Rod Grams of Minnesota, and John Ashcroft of Missouri in failed reelection efforts. A spokeswoman for the late Missouri Democratic Gov. Mel Carnahan, who defeated Ashcroft, dismissed any talk of challenging Carnahan's victory.
"I don't think that anyone honestly would tell Missouri voters that their vote did not count," the spokeswoman said. A Senate GOP leadership aide said, "The Constitution doesn't recognize having a dead person elected to the Senate," and said senators would have to decide whether or not to "seat" Carnahan.
But the aide added that party leaders had not yet discussed the decision and most likely would not want to do anything that could be viewed as a partisan attack.
Senate Minority Whip Harry Reid told CongressDaily today that Senate Democrats would push for equal decision-making ability if the Senate ends in a 50-50 split.
Reid did not know precisely how such an arrangement would work, but said a 20-member committee might be evenly divided between parties, and perhaps led by co- chairmen. Reid said that despite previous Democratic discipline, the party would present an even stronger front against Republicans.
"We've got more strength than we did," Reid said. "They won't be able to push us around." Eric Ueland, chief of staff to Majority Whip Nickles, said that the top four Senate leaders would meet to decide how the Senate will operate, but emphasized that Republicans will remain in charge.
"The [Republican] majority will organize ... the majority will set the agenda and the majority will jump to deliver for President Bush. It's that simple," he said.
Spokesmen for National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Mitch McConnell of Kentucky declined requests for comment on the GOP Senate losses.
Asked late Tuesday about the difficulty of passing legislation in the Senate, Republican National Committee Chairman Jim Nicholson replied: "I don't think it will be much different if it's a 50 or 51 or 55 seat margin. It's a test of leadership."