Interesting tidbit from Elana Schor at TPM about the new committee structure in the Senate, agreed on yesterday by Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell:
After some questions about whether the undecided Minnesota race would leave committee organizing in limbo, Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) have settled on a three-vote advantage for Democrats on every Senate committee except Appropriations and Armed Services -- on those panels, Democrats will have four more members.
This means that every time an even mildly contentious bill comes up to a vote -- or a mildly contentious nominee, for that matter -- Democrats can afford to lose one centrist member to the Republicans and still get a win.
That's a pretty big pad and could well be important on crucial votes, since there's a history of centrist Democrats from red states voting with the GOP, especially on revenue and spending bills.
However, here's another thought. Might that trend abate somewhat under current circumstances? Red-state Dems (Lincoln and Pryor of Arkansas, Landrieu of Louisiana) are usually terrified of seeming liberal. But this year, some things that used to be "liberal" -- a big stimulus package -- are now just "the stuff that pretty much everybody agrees needs to be done."
Besides which, there are now, what, nine and one-third (i.e. that Nebraska district) fewer red states! Around a dozen Democratic senators, by my rough calculations, have moved from being red-state Dems to blue-state Dems. That should give them more room to support the new president.
And it'll still be fascinating to see how the remaining red-state Democrats position themselves.
