Democrats hope for a greater say after increased majority in Senate

At present the Democrats have a simple majority in the US Senate. They are looking forward to the 2008 Senate elections. 34 seats will be up for grabs. Democrats have 12 of them and are confident of retaining them. The Republicans have 22 seats of the 34; 5 Republican senators have announced they will not stand again. The rest of the Republican seats could go either way. Republicans are disheartened by the following factors- 1– The Iraq war is unpopular. Bush’s unpopularity will sink them too. 2– Senate Democrats have managed to rake in more campaign money by way of contributions. They have reasons to cheer up too. Only 25% of Americans approve of the way the democrats have used their majority in the Congress for the country’s good. There is a lack of confidence in Democrats about their ability to lead the country. The Democrats are quite confident of their chances of a bigger majority in Senate but are not trumpeting about it as they fear this would push Republicans into closing ranks. What will a bigger Democratic majority in Senate mean? The aim would be to reach the magic figure of 60. This will prevent Republicans from filibustering any Democratic proposal. For instance Democrats will be able to pass bills calling for a pull-out from Iraq. Of course Bush will be at the death of his term and a Democratic Senate will not be able to push him around much. Although Bush or the new incumbent will always have the liberty of using his veto to outplay the Congress, any bill passed by the Legislature will have tremendous effect on US policy. Reuters Image credit