Halperin: Reform Democrats Are Muted After Midterms
Nov. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Nancy Pelosi says her party lost last week not because of the president #39;s message, but because of his success. (Source: Bloomberg)
By: Bloomberg News
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Halperin: Reform Democrats Are Muted After Midterms - Video
The 2014 midterm elections were not good for the Democrats, but there may be a silver lining.
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The 2014 midterm elections were not good for the Democrats, but there may be a silver lining. - Video
With a nod to the need for change, Democrats tapped liberal favorite Sen. Elizabeth Warren to join the Senate leadership Thursday as the party tries to recover from its devastating electoral losses.
The Massachusetts senator joins the team led by Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, whose own reelection Thursday as leader of the incoming minority party was not unanimous and was punctuated with scattered dissent.
After years of public infighting on the Republican side of the aisle, it was Democrats on Thursday whose divisions spilled into the halls.
Democratic senators cloistered themselves for a three-hour meeting behind closed doors in the historic Old Senate Chamber, as Republicans easily elected their own congressional leaders.
"One of the things about that room is it's very easy to talk in a very serious and heartfelt way," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) "That took place for a number of hours."
One by one, Democratic senators rose to make their case about the disastrous election last week, the leadership choices before them and the overall direction of the party. In all, 28 senators spoke -- half the caucus.
For Democrats, Warren's rise provides substance as well as symbolism. Her title is simply advisor to the party's policy committee. But her real job will be outreach to the liberal wing that has complained the party hasn't been strong enough on core economic, middle-class issues, such as raising the minimum wage, making college affordable and fighting Wall Street excesses.
"Somebody asked me on the way in here, 'Liz Warren is going to be part of your leadership; what do you expect her to do?'" Reid said while introducing his new team. "I expect her to be Elizabeth Warren."
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Democrats court liberals by elevating Elizabeth Warren to leadership
Democrats are urging a speedy confirmation of President Barack Obamas new nominee to the National Labor Relations Board. On Thursday, they made clear theyre determined to get it.
Less than 24 hours after the White Houses announcement Wednesday that President Obama nominated Lauren McFerran to the federal labor board, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions scheduled a hearing next Thursday to vet her. Ms. McFerran is currently the committees chief labor counsel and a graduate of the Yale Law School. She was nominated to the five-member labor board to succeed Democrat Nancy Schiffer, whose term expires Dec. 16.
The timing of the nomination and hearing gives Democrats just enough time to try to confirm Ms. McFerran this year, before the GOP takes control of the Senate. Republicans havent publicly opposed Ms. McFerran but theyve repeatedly accused the boards Democratic majority of being union advocates instead of umpires during the current administration. The board resolves employee-management disputes in the private sector and oversees union elections there.
A senior GOP aide said Thursday that Ms. McFerran would have a hard time getting confirmed in a Republican majority Senate. But until next year, Republicans are helpless bystanders who dont really have delay tactics at their disposal, he added.
Democrats have more power to confirm Ms. McFerran now, while they are still in the majority, because under a 2013 Senate rules change, nominations can proceed with a simple majority, typically 51 when all senators are present, down from three-fifths previously. A Senate Democratic leadership aide said that Democrats would try to bring her nomination up for a vote on the Senate in the lame duck session before Congress adjourns for the year.
The timing of that vote is unclear but a GOP aide said the date of the hearing would allow Democrats to schedule a committee vote in early December, advancing Ms. McFerran to a confirmation vote by mid-December if the process runs smoothly.
Sen. Tom Harkin (D., Iowa), the HELP committee chairman, said Wednesday that he wants a quick confirmation. I intend for the Board to remain fully functional and I look forward to the speedy confirmation of Ms. McFerran, he said.
The five-member board is currently fully staffed with three Democrats and two Republicans. If Ms. Schiffer is not replaced when her term expires in mid-December, the board would have two Democrats and two Republicans, which could result in gridlock on controversial decisions that are often partisan.
Siobhan Hughes contributed to this article
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Democrats Try for Quick Confirmation of NLRB Nominee
As bad as things were for Democrats on Nov. 4, it appears they could have been even worse. Witness: A new survey from the Public Religion Research Institute.
The poll shows that19 percent of Republican voters made up their minds in the final week of the campaign.By comparison, nearly one-third 31 percent of Democratic voters say theydecided in the final seven days of the campaign (including 10 percent on Election Day).
Toput that in perspective, consider that the generic ballot favored Republicans 52to47. If you extrapolate those late-deciders onto those numbers,around 10 percentage points worth of the GOP's 52 percent of voters would have decided to vote Republican in the closing days, while 14.5 pointsof the Democrats' 47 percent held out that long including about five points until the final day.
Before those late deciders ... well ... decided, the GOP would have led by about nine or 10 points on the generic ballot, at least according to this poll. (Again, this is rough math.)
Had those late-deciders broken more evenly, or a few extra points' worth of Democrats decided not to vote at all, it's possible that the GOP's 52-47 margin could have been even bigger, and maybe we'd be talking about more GOP House seats and/or a 10- or 11-seat GOP gain in the Senate rather than a likely nine-seat gain (with the possible additions of states like Virginia and New Hampshire).
That's all very hypothetical, though, and these are national numbers not focused on key Senate races -- so they are only so useful. Also, it's quite possible those Democratic late-deciders are simply partisans who weren't all that enthusiastic about voting and, thus, didn't technically decide until the very end, even as their votes were basically foregone conclusions.
But for what it's worth, exit polls in Georgia, North Carolina and Iowa all showed much the same thing: Republican Senate candidates leading by substantial margins amongearly-deciders, and Democratsleading by several points or more among late-deciders.In Georgia, for instance, people who decided their vote in final week favored Democrat Michelle Nunn, 50-43. People deciding earlier favored Republican Sen.-elect David Perdue, 55-43.
Andfor Democrats fretting about just how bad last week was, these polls suggest at least to some degree thatthey dodged another bullet or two.
Aaron Blake covers national politics and writes regularly for The Fix.
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The Fix: The 2014 election was very bad for Democrats. It was almost even worse.