The Gettable Republican

If you’re going to get any Republican votes for health care reform the logical place to start would seem to be not orthodox conservative Chuck Grassley or far-right Senator Mike Enzi, but rather Maine’s Olympia Snowe, who has a record of sometimes voting for progressive bills. If you can get Snowe you have a shot at her somewhat-more-conservative colleague Susan Collins, and if you can’t get Snowe then you can’t get anyone. So where does Snowe stand on health reform? Suzy Khimm has a useful rundown that basically puts Snowe to the right of most Democrats—and certainly to the right of me—but not necessarily to the right of the more conservative Democrats in the Senate.

That said, there is one crucially important difference. Democrats hand out committee chairmanships by a blind seniority rule. Republicans do not. Chairman need to rotate out of their positions after fixed terms, which then gives the caucus as a whole input over who takes over next. Consequently, the Senate leadership has some meaningful leverage over Republican Senators—even Senators from liberal states. If they’re really determined to make Snowe (and Collins) vote “no,” they have tools at their disposal to make that happen. By contrast, the Democratic leadership heads into tough fights basically disarmed with no real tools of discipline and leverage at their disposal beyond the vague risk of a primary challenge. One day perhaps the Democratic caucus will decide that it wants to be an effective legislative party and it will adopt some principles that equalize the playing field. But until then, it’s going to be extremely difficult to overcome truly determined Republican opposition even with a large majority.