Stupid Question: If, for some reason, there are only 40 Republican Senators during the Lame Duck Session, can they still stop cloture?
How about 39?
“If, for some reason, there are only 40 Republican Senators during the Lame Duck Session, can they still stop cloture?”
Since there are already 41 Republican senators, the only way there could be only 40 would be for one of the sitting Republican senators to switch parties or die. And I don’t think if there is a large Republican wave this November (let’s say the Senate flips — RCP predicts 49 in the next Congress, and I think they are conservative) that even the Maine twins would be that obtuse.
Additionally, there are four Senate special elections — Delaware, Illinois, New York and West Virginia — this November and Republicans are expected to take two of those. Special election winners are seated immediately after their elections are certified, so they would be in the lame duck session. That would give the Republicans 43 seats immediately — enough to filibuster even if the Maine twins flip.
So about the only way for the Democrats to stop a filibuster in the lame duck is to — literally — take out a minimum of two Republican senators. Don’t think that is possible even in an Obama-nation.
If the bloodbath in November is anywhere near where some are predicting it will be I don’t think holding out 40 votes for cloture is going to be a problem. if someone like Russ Feingold loses then none of the rats running in 2012 will dare try to push anything through that the people are opposed to. The obama agenda will be dead. Don’t forget the Congress controls the purse strings...