The \u201cCool Kids\u201d in the Democratic Senate are the \u201cProgressives\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0Senators like Sanders, Warren, Booker, Gillibrand, Padilla and Ohio\u2019s senior Senator, Sherrod Brown, fit the definition.\u00a0\u00a0They get to fight for all the issues that the Democratic Party stands for, the \u201cplatform\u201d issues from women\u2019s and worker\u2019s rights to climate change.\u00a0\u00a0And all of them, with the exception of Sherrod, can do so with the full backing of their constituency.\u00a0\u00a0Whether it\u2019s New York or Massachusetts, New Jersey or Vermont, and of course, California; the Progressive agenda is in statewide agreement.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sherrod Brown is the \u201coutlier\u201d, the Progressive Democrat from the supposedly \u201cRed\u201d state.\u00a0\u00a0But Sherrod has found the unique key to winning in Ohio.\u00a0\u00a0Unlike most of the other Progressives, he still resonates well with white working men, a group that generally has migrated to\u00a0\u00a0Trump world.\u00a0\u00a0That working class ethos, as Sherrod says, “Whether you take a shower before work or after\u201d, allows a relatively conservative state to continue to return a Progressive to the Senate. (Tim Ryan, the Democratic Congressman from Youngstown running for the other Ohio seat, is trying to replicate Brown\u2019s successful formula).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then there are the \u201crazor thin\u201d Democratic Senators.\u00a0\u00a0Whatever their inner personal beliefs, they are more likely to straddle the middle. That’s because they are always on the verge of losing their Senate seat.\u00a0\u00a0Senators like Tester of Montana and Kaine and Warner of Virginia are likely moderates because they want to be, but for sure, because they have to be.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They represent states that are supportive of a more moderate agenda.\u00a0\u00a0And there are two others that need to be included in this list, the \u201cSenators of the Hour\u201d as the Biden \u201cBuild-Back-Better\u201d agenda comes near to a vote:\u00a0\u00a0Joe Manchin of West Virginia, and Krysten Sinema of Arizona.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There\u2019s been a lot of talk about Manchin.\u00a0\u00a0Politically, he is the Democrat elected from the MOST TRUMP state in the nation. Being the center of controversy is a good thing for the former Governor who has won statewide votes six times in his career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Manchin wants West Virginians to see three things.\u00a0\u00a0First, he wants them to see him as the \u201cbulwark\u201d against the \u201ccool kids”. That’s something he can uniquely do as a member of the razor thin Senate Democratic majority.\u00a0\u00a0Every single vote counts, and Manchin is \u201cmaking hay\u201d in West Virginia by being the \u201cposter child\u201d for holding back his more progressive comrades.\u00a0\u00a0Second, he wants West Virginians to know that he has their interest at heart.\u00a0\u00a0So when the deal is finally cut, and Manchin signs onto the Democratic plans, you can be sure he will be able to point out multiple places where the good folks of West Virginia will benefit, more than other states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And finally, the Mountaineers have always valued independence.\u00a0\u00a0The birth of their state, in rebellion against \u201cMother Virginia\u201d, laid the groundwork for West Virginians views.\u00a0\u00a0Manchin\u2019s very visible independence plays well back in the home state. And that approach is likely to get him re-elected even as a seventy-seven year old in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Which leaves Krystin Sinema, the Senator from Arizona.\u00a0 Sinema began her political career not as a Democrat, but in the Green Party.\u00a0\u00a0You can\u2019t get more Progressive than that.\u00a0\u00a0But as her elective career progressed, she seemed to back away from her Progressive roots.\u00a0\u00a0In her successful 2018 campaign to win the US Senate seat, she even refused to use Trump as a campaign foil, and ultimately won the election over Republican Martha McSally 50% to 47.6%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sinema is emerging as the ultimate stumbling block to the Progressives in the Senate. Unlike Manchin, who at least has hinted at his negotiating positions on the Build-Back-Better bill, Sinema has only voiced opposition to spending $3.5 Trillion, but refuses to hint at what she would consider. It seems she\u2019s trying to take the Arizona course of deceased Senator John McCain; the \u201cmaverick\u201d in his own Republican Party. In Sinema\u2019s mind there\u2019s the clear picture of the ailing McCain in the dark of night, voting \u201cthumbs down\u201d to the Republican plan to destroy the Affordable Care Act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The problem Sinema has is this.\u00a0\u00a0If she really does \u201cthumbs down\u201d the Biden agenda, she\u2019s sure to have a very well financed Democratic primary opponent in 2024, who will hang her from the vote.\u00a0\u00a0And yet if she supports the Biden agenda too quickly, she knows that the voting block she depends on, the McCain loving independent Republicans of Arizona, won\u2019t stand behind her.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Like Manchin she needs to find the \u201cplay\u201d that will allow her to maintain her Democratic standing, but also be the \u201cMaverick\u201d for the Arizona voting base.\u00a0\u00a0She obviously hasn\u2019t figured out how to do that yet.\u00a0\u00a0Her snide and cutting remarks \u2013 \u201c\u2026Progressives say that can\u2019t find you to negotiate with\u201d, \u201cWell, I\u2019m right here at the elevators now,\u201d won\u2019t work for long.\u00a0\u00a0Like Manchin (and Tester, and the Virginians) she needs to find what\u2019s good for Arizonans in \u201cBuild-Back-Better\u201d and take that to the bank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And the \u201ccool kids\u201d better find a way to get those two to play.\u00a0\u00a0Otherwise, they all go home to campaign on — failure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"