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Schumer Rebuts GOP on Divided Govt.

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October 29, 2008 2:09 PM

ABC News' Teddy Davis and Z. Byron Wolf Report: With GOP candidates warning about the consequences of Democrats controlling both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, Sen. Chuck Schumer challenged the Republican Party's commitment to divided government on Wednesday.

"They're not for checks and balances," said Schumer. "They're for blocking change and backing Bush."

Speaking to reporters in Washington, D.C., Schumer argued that pleas for divided government work when times are good but predicted that current GOP efforts to scare voters about the unchecked influence of Barack Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi would fall on deaf ears because the public's appetite for change is "at least" as big as it has been since 1980 when Ronald Reagan was first elected.

Schumer, who chairs the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), made his comments six days before an election in which his party is poised to make significant gains including the possibility of winning a filibuster-proof 60 seat majority.

Schumer said Democrats, who currently have effective control on 51 seats, are significantly ahead in five pick-up opportunities (Virginia, New Mexico, New Hampshire, Colorado, and Alaska). He said Democrats are find themselves "a little bit ahead" or roughly even in an additional six pick-up opportunities.

Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu is the lone Democratic incumbent to have faced any significant competition this year but she now finds herself comfortably ahead, according to Schumer.

On what he called the "$64,000 question" of whether Democrats would reach 60 Senate seats, Schumer once again called it possible without guaranteeing it.

"It's hard to get to 60 and I don't want to oversell it," said Schumer. "It's hard because it's lots of very Red States."

The 60-seat question may not be settled until Dec. 2, according to Schumer.

That's the date when Georgia would hold a run-off between incumbent Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss and Democratic challenger Jim Martin. A Senate race is triggered in the Peach State if no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote. A run-off in Georgia is possible because of the closness of the contest between the two major-party candidates and the presence in the race of Libertarian candidate Allen Buckley.

Schumer said he has not seen polling in Alaska since a Washington, DC, jury convicted Republican Sen. Alaska Ted Stevens on seven counts of failing to report gifts.

The DSCC chair expressed confidence, however, that Democrats would win the seat, adding that Anchorage Democratic Mayor Mark Begich would be helped by calls for Stevens to resign from Republicans John McCain, Sarah Palin, and Mitch McConnell.

On the topic of Democratic turnout efforts, Schumer said the DSCC learned from GOP successes in 2004 and have, over the last two cycles, made a major investment in the party's "ground game." Schumer estimated that the DSCC is spending one dollar on turnout for every two and a half dollars that it is spending to air television ads.

On the policy front, Schumer said Democrats are not going to rubber-stamp Obama's health-care plan.

He expressed confidence, however, that a health-care overhaul would be enacted in the next two years and praised Obama as someone who would work closely with Congress on the specifics of any legislation.

Beyond health care, Schumer predicted Democrats would also be able to pass significant policy changes on Iraq, energy, immigration, education, and the regulation of financial services if Republicans lose the ability to bottle things up in the Senate.

Schumer held his pen and pad briefing with reporters at the Mott House on Capitol Hill.

October 29, 2008 in Biden, Joe, McCain, John, Obama, Barack, Palin, Sarah, Vote 2008: Democrats, Vote 2008: Republicans | Permalink | User Comments (99)

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A divided Government works when you know what each party stands for. The Republican party has been hi-jacked by far right, radical neocons so a lot of Americans are just fine seeing what the Dems can do.

Posted by: Just Vote | Oct 29, 2008 2:14:37 PM

Change is coming....

Posted by: becky | Oct 29, 2008 2:19:00 PM

I'm a Democrat and I agree with John McCain that a Democratic Congress, along with a Democratic President, would be a disaster. My party has been hijacked by the far left-wing, and I want no part of it. That said, I'm no fan of the Republicans. I guess now I'm an independent. In this election, I think McCain is the lesser of two evils. Reluctantly, I'll vote for him. The thought of a Pelosi/Reid/Obama administration is frightening to me, and to a lot of other Southerners.

Posted by: Sarah Beth | Oct 29, 2008 2:26:25 PM

Oh Sara just stay at home please. more of the same "scare" talk. oh, by the way Sara......westerner here.

Posted by: seansatx | Oct 29, 2008 2:31:03 PM

how soon we forget Republicans had control of congress and white house from 2000-2006 under George Bush, and where did that get us?

McCain wasn't whineing then

Posted by: oh really | Oct 29, 2008 2:33:02 PM

Let switch parties the Republicans were in control for 6 Years,And look at what we ended up with anyway the Republican party now is too far right! DEMOCRATS ALL THE WAY!

Posted by: Angie | Oct 29, 2008 2:37:08 PM

I hope Mr. Schumer enjoys the next two years. Once the public realizes they've been had by Congress and that the 'change' they getting is nothing more than the same, failed, 'tax and spend' Democratic policies of the past, they'll make another change.

Hopefully, someone other than the Republicans will be the beneficiaries of the 2010 next change.

Posted by: I'm With Stupid | Oct 29, 2008 2:43:22 PM

Gotta go with the Dems all the way this time. The Rethugs have been taken over by the nutty extreme right. Those people can't catch their arse with both hands, plus they are REALLY yearning for the Rupture...err Rapture. Ya'll go ahead and Rupture, we normal people will work to get the USA back on her feet and restore our integrity around the world.

Posted by: Clint | Oct 29, 2008 2:44:53 PM

I’m voting for Barack because I want a whole bunch of free stuff, and I want other people to pay for it. I also want a house. I don’t like the one I’m living in, but I think I might like yours. Barack’s gonna redistribute some of your wealth over my way, so that’s why I’m voting for him! Obama/Biden 08!!!

Posted by: Barry's My Man | Oct 29, 2008 2:46:20 PM

John McCain on Nancy Pelosi:

"I respect Speaker Pelosi. I think she's one of the great American success stories," McCain said during an interview with The Chronicle prior to a fundraiser at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco.

"We talk about (New York Sen.) Hillary Clinton and her inspiration to millions of Americans. Speaker Pelosi has been an inspiration as well" in a role that is "in many ways ... more powerful than the president."

Posted by: just Vote | Oct 29, 2008 2:46:21 PM

Unprecedented sums of campaign money.

Unprecedented broken promises of campaign finance reform.

Unprecedented inexperience for the office.

Unprecedented ties to criminals and terrorists.

Unprecedented associations to voter fraud groups.

Unprecedented capitulation to America's enemies.

Unprecedented arrogance.

Unprecedented lack of good judgment.

Unprecedented lurch towards a Socialist Dictatorship.


This is not the "change" America needs.

Reject Barack Obama.

Posted by: One_American | Oct 29, 2008 2:47:42 PM

I used to support Barack Obama, but he said the Constitution was a flawed document. He said the Warren court wasn't radical enough. John McCain spent his whole life defending the Constitution, and he wouldn't call it names for political gains. Barack Obama is too radical.

Posted by: Obamacrat for McCain | Oct 29, 2008 2:48:56 PM

"Wealth redistribution" has no place in a free democracy.

It is, however, the cornerstone of a COMMUNIST DICTATORSHIP:

"We cannot expect the Americans to jump from capitalism to Communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving Americans small doses of socialism until they suddenly awake to find they have Communism."

- Soviet Leader Nikita Khrushchev, 1959

Stop kidding yourselves, Liberals.

Reject Barack Obama.

Posted by: One_American | Oct 29, 2008 2:54:08 PM

Obamacrat for McCain
Barry's My Man

you 2 need to stop drinking Palins bath water, use your brain, if you can post here you can find out the truth

Posted by: joe the votor | Oct 29, 2008 3:02:00 PM

Anyone who thinks Barack Obama is going to give anyone a tax cut is a fool. Past performance is a good predictor of future performance. Obama believes in raising taxes, not lowering them. He has a new TV ad in Missouri. The new ad claims anyone who has a job and makes less than $200,000 will get a tax cut. (Last week it was anyone making less than $250,000, employed or not.) This guy is making it up as he goes along.

Posted by: JB in St. Louis | Oct 29, 2008 3:02:31 PM

The Federal Reserve cut a key short-term interest rate by a half-percentage point today, dropping the federal funds rate from 1.5 percent to 1 percent. The Fed also expressed continued worries about the damage being done to the economy by the ongoing crisis in the financial and credit markets.
-----

Damage done by 0bama, who boneheadedly pushed Bush's money giveaways one year ago, who ridiculed Hillary Clinton's proposal to use that $300 billion to target financial and credit markets as well as rescuing mortgage foreclosures.

His congressional leaders were just so happy to support 0bama because they have long ago decided to choose him as their candidate. They brushed Hillary Clinton's proposal aside to give some of you $600 checks to "stimulate" the economy, which led to the stock market crash, tanking your retirement accounts by 50%.

This is another boneheaded mistake by 0bama, who continuously pushing for money giveaways, and continuously promising you to give you $1000 if you vote for him.

0bama is simply too dangerous to the economy to be trusted.

Posted by: d0 | Oct 29, 2008 3:03:29 PM

I am voting for every Democrat on the ticket. I am not leaving anyone of them out. I have had it with Republicans.

Posted by: becky | Oct 29, 2008 3:05:57 PM

d0: LOL you are joking right?

Posted by: becky | Oct 29, 2008 3:07:26 PM

Shumer conveniently forgets the Carter years. He conveniently forgets that the 3 most prosperous decades in America (post Industrial Revolution) were the 50's, the 80's and the 90's. What did all 3 have in common? Divided government.

Posted by: MBNA Joe | Oct 29, 2008 3:08:06 PM

I hope all of you watch Obama's 30 minute commercial tonight. There are a whole lot of you confused about his policies.

You have been listening and watching to so many GOP lies that you can't tell what is a lie and what is the truth anymore. You guys have Obama's policies so screwed up.

Posted by: becky | Oct 29, 2008 3:11:55 PM

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