Abstract

DICK DURBIN: BUSH FIGHTER

The article focuses on U.S. Senator from Illinois, Dick Durbin, and how he is becoming an aggressive and progressive member of the Senate Democratic leadership. Durbin's filleting of judicial nominees, such as Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Owen, has been an obscure pleasure enjoyed mainly by Washington liberal activists who monitor the progress of judicial nominations. Those who have followed Durbin's twenty-two-year career as a member of the House and Senate argue with confidence that his election as Senate Democratic whip, the second-highest-ranking position in the caucus, was one of the few bright spots in the dark days following the 2004 election debacle. The November 2 defeat of minority leader Tom Daschle opened the way for a long-needed reshuffling of the Democratic Party's leadership in the upper chamber. Though Durbin has one of the most liberal voting records in the Senate, he sees himself as very much in the mainstream of his party. But he recognizes something that too many party leaders in both houses have had a hard time wrapping their heads around since the 1994 election handed power to the Republicans: The mainstream of his party is not currently the mainstream of Congress. Democrats must therefore stop thinking of themselves as the natural party of government and start operating as an opposition force--picking the right fights, remaining united in their dissents and establishing a record on the most critical issues of the day that is distinct from that of the White House and the House and Senate majorities. While Durbin is very much a member of the inner circle of Senate progressives, he is no fan of lonely protest votes. He is determined to hold the Democratic caucus together in order to get the forty votes necessary to stall nominees and policies.