The Senate's Rhythm
A great deliberative body? Or presidential wannabes who can't stop talking?
Reid must reckon with another looming problem: a Senate full of presidential ambitions. Each election cycle, a handful of senators run; this year, though, it feels like two hand-fuls. "They always said we all looked in the mirror and said we're running for president," says former Louisiana Sen. John Breaux, a conservative Democrat. "But this time, it's probably closer to the reality." In fact, since 1960, sitting senators have run for president 50 times, but only five have won their party's nomination and only John F. Kennedy became president.
Still, the daily and weekly effects are daunting: Take a recent hearing with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, for instance. The 21-member Senate Foreign Relations Committee has five possible presidential hopefuls, and they're all eager to press their case on Iraq policy. The bipartisan resolution proposed in the Senate last week to oppose Bush's plan to increase troops was sponsored in part by hopeful Sens. Joe Biden, a Delaware Democrat (and previous candidate in 1988), and Chuck Hagel, a Nebraska Republican. As the primaries approach, Reid must deal with a basic problem as well. The senators won't all be in Washington; they'll be on the campaign trail. "These are people who are fiercely competitive. It's going to be tough for them to sit and not have different views and ideas on the same problems," Breaux says. "That problem [will make] the rest of Harry's hair go gray." With so many prospective presidential candidates to deal with, Reid may find those hairs losing color quickly. Nothing else in the Senate is likely to move that fast.
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