Senate Dems ready for new leader, GOP staying with McConnell

Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C., at least 40 protesters commandeered Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) will be continuing to serve as Senate minority whip.

Protests continued throughout the USA on the sixth consecutive day following Donald Trump’s surprise electoral victory, targeting both the president-elect’s anti-immigration policies and factions of white supremacist support, as well as the leadership of Democratic Sen.

As Senate minority leader, Schumer will assume his weakened party’s most powerful remaining post as it struggles to define its role in a Republican-dominated government.

McConnell, 74, is a discreet but deadly master of the Senate’s legislative chess game.

I expect Schumer to be Chuck Schumer, the good, the bad, the ugly of being Chuck Schumer Sen.

There are a number of Republican senators who either never endorsed Trump or unendorsed him – from conservatives like Mike Lee of Utah and Ben Sasse of Nebraska to more moderate members like John McCain and Jeff Flake of Arizona, Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan of Alaska, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Cory Gardner of Colorado, Susan Collins of ME and Rob Portman of Ohio.

Schumer has said he’ll seek opportunities to work with Trump but will face pressure from disappointed Democratic activists to adopt a hard line. “We are Americans first”, said McConnell, who early in Barack Obama’s presidency said his goal was to limit him to one term.

Protesters from groups including Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter, held “Wall Street Democrats failed us” and “Schumer, grow a spine, Democracy is on the line” banners. “It’s our job to do the oversight and scrutiny and review that’s appropriate”, he said.

It’s a sign Republicans are wary after losing House and Senate majorities in 2012, when they spearheaded constitutional amendments to require voter ID and ban same-sex marriage. “He can throw a punch”, South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham, one of Schumer’s collaborators on bipartisan legislation, told reporters.

The battle for America’s political soul could come down to a street brawl between two boys from Queens and Brooklyn.

Given their common experience in the NY fishbowl, where business and politics mix, both probably have an idea of what makes the other tick. Senate Democrats and Republicans are meeting separately Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2016, to pick their leaders for the Congress that convenes in January 2017.

Still, if common ground does emerge in the new Washington, Schumer is likely to explore it.

The lack of drama as senators chose their leaders was the opposite of the House, where both parties’ leadership elections have been more theatrical. “The party that’s seen as obstructionist is going to pay a price in 2018”.

Still, some liberals are concerned about Schumer’s rise to Democratic leader.

When exactly to harness Sanders’ organizing or messaging power is yet to be determined – it’s a wait-and-see attitude with Democrats on the Capitol Hill. Elizabeth Warren of MA to moderates like West Virginia’s Joe Manchin. Ellison, who is a progressive and a Muslim, reflects the diversity of the party, Sanders and other Democrats say. He has close ties to Wall Street, a major source of jobs in his hometown as well as campaign funds for his party.

In 1999, Schumer championed the repeal that year of the Glass-Steagall Act, a Depression-era law that had separated investment banking from commercial banking.

The no. 3 post that Schumer holds in the Senate leadership includes the chairmanship of theDPCC, the internal messaging shop that has been integrated with Reid’s own operation (senior Reid and Schumer aides have literally shared an office on the third floor of the Capitol abutting the press galleries). After her defeat last week, Sanders said he did not talk to her directly, only on a conference call.