In political gamble, Reid holds Senate votes he knows he'll lose - Washington Post

On Wednesday afternoon, the most powerful man in the U.S. Senate did something that sounds odd: He set himself up to lose an important vote.

Then he did it again, on another key issue.

And Thursday he'll do it two more times.

Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) planned votes where his favored bills were expected to fail. For Reid, failure is actually the point. He wants to put Republicans on record as blocking all four.

On Wednesday, he took up seniors' benefits and collective- bargaining rights for police and firefighters' unions, and on Thursday he will call votes on an immigration bill that would assist people who were brought to the United States illegally as children, and legislation that would provide health-care benefits for responders to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

These "test votes" are a sign of the sclerotic state of Congress, clogged by filibuster threats. Usually, it is the people out of power who resort to grand, futile gestures.

Now - in a political gamble - it's the guys in charge.

"Just because the party of 'Just say no' has been blocking all these initiatives, it doesn't mean we're not going to try," said Jim Manley, a spokesman for Reid. "At some point, you've got to take a stand, and let the chips fall where they may."

Senate Democrats, who hold a majority in the chamber, held their last "test vote" on Saturday - two, actually. The first proposal called for an end to tax cuts, passed under President George W. Bush, on income greater than $250,000 for a family.

Democrats needed 60 senators to agree. They got just 53.

Then Democratic leaders staged a vote to let the tax cuts expire only for income of more than $1 million per year for a family. That failed, too.

In theory, these votes were supposed to demonstrate that Republicans were favoring the rich at the expense of the middle class.

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Republicans, Democrats Make Final Push For Votes - Voice of America

  01 November 2010

Former President Bill Clinton holds up four-month old Natalie Fontana of Washingtonville, N.Y. while making a campaign stop for Rep. John Hall in Harriman, N.Y. (far left) 30 Oct 2010

Republicans and Democrats are making a final push for votes, on the eve of U.S. elections that experts say could give the minority Republicans control of at least one chamber of Congress.   

A new poll indicates that Republicans have a more commanding lead than either party has had in decades before a midterm vote.  The USA Today/Gallup survey says 55 percent of the 1,500 people asked say they plan to support Republicans in the elections, the widest margin since 1974.

Analysts are expecting Republicans to make enough gains to take control of the House of Representatives, but to fall short of winning a majority in the Senate.  Democrats currently control both houses of Congress.

The economy remains the main source of trouble for Democrats this year.  Republican leaders say the political energy and momentum is on their side this year, just as it was with the Democrats in 2006 and 2008.

At stake Tuesday are all 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 37 of the 100 seats in the Senate.  A number of states also are holding votes for governorships, local officials and ballot measures.

President Barack Obama recently wound up a four-state campaign tour in which he sought to rally fellow Democrats, to limit the expected opposition gains.

During an appearance in Cleveland, Ohio Sunday, Mr. Obama blamed the current economic sluggishness and high unemployment rate on mistakes made by the previous Republican administration.  But Republicans have been blaming Mr. Obama.

Republican gains likely would make it more difficult for the president to win approval for his legislative initiatives.

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