Durbin on the Leading Edge

By Daphne Retter
CQ Weekly

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada is one of the lower-profile figures to assume that alpha post in the congressional pecking order. He likes to do most of his work behind the scenes, rather than in front of the cameras.

So, much of the caucus’s more prominent work — fighting for its agenda on the Senate floor or on TV — falls to Reid’s No. 2, Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin .

It’s in one sense a natural role for the senior senator from Illinois, who’s been a trial attorney and clearly relishes vigorous debate. In another sense, though, it’s an odd choice: Durbin is the only member of the majority leadership facing re-election in 2008, so if the caucus produces little to no legislative progress, he’ll be answerable for it at the polls.

Does that mean he could step aside for another senior flak-catcher as his third-term election bid closes out next November?

Not likely. “It hasn’t come up yet,” Durbin says. “I think the people of Illinois know to expect candor from me.”

Durbin can afford to be sanguine now, as opposed to the launch of his political career in 1983 — before Illinois went “blue.” Political scientist Mike Lawrence at Southern Illinois University says Republicans in Illinois are in no shape to put up much of a fight against him now. “If Republicans were stronger, Durbin would be taking a lot more of a risk.”

Even Republican John Thune , who in 2004 became the first challenger in 50 years to oust a Senate party leader — South Dakota’s Tom Daschle — agrees that having a Democratic leader running in Illinois is “no big deal.” But that doesn’t mean Thune has lost interest in picking off Democratic leaders.

“Reid, though — he may see some of that. Nevada is not a Democratic state.” Although the margin was thin, President Bush took Nevada in 2004 and 2000. Reid runs again in 2010.

Which could, come to think of it, be another reason Reid is happy to have Durbin taking center stage in the Senate.

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