congratulations to chuck schumer on his election wednesday as the new senate minority leader, which for the next two years makes him america<u+2019>s most powerful democrat. along with that honor comes the privilege of negotiating a path between donald trump and senators elizabeth warren and bernie sanders. senate republicans are welcoming mr. schumer, and not only because they<u+2019>re glad to see the last of harry reid. mr. schumer, a voluble new yorker and career pol, is a partisan but he<u+2019>s also a deal-maker. in 2013 he threw himself into immigration reform and helped get the gang of eight bill through the senate, though it failed in the house. in the current congress he<u+2019>s tried to cut a deal with house speaker paul ryan trading corporate tax reform for money for public works. the obama treasury blocked progress. mr. schumer<u+2019>s main problem in the next congress will be his left senate flank, in particular ms. warren. the massachusetts progressive is already mapping out a no compromise, filibuster everything strategy against the gop agenda. the senate democratic caucus is dominated by the left, so most of the 48 members of the minority will be on her side. their strategy will be to block as much legislation as they can in order to deny the gop accomplishments in the hope that this motivates democratic voters in the 2018 midterms. the new yorker<u+2019>s challenge is that democrats have to defend 25 senate seats in 2018, 10 of them in states that mr. trump carried last week. the potentially vulnerable incumbents who may seek re-election include jon tester (montana), joe manchin (west virginia), heidi heitkamp (north dakota), joe donnelly (indiana) and claire mccaskill (missouri). those senators will have a greater incentive than the warren wing to cooperate with mr. trump on at least some issues. the wild card may be how well mr. trump, the art-of-the-deal man, can get along with mr. schumer. as new yorkers, they<u+2019>ve known each other for years. as minority leader, mr. schumer<u+2019>s main goal will be getting back into the majority, which probably means minimizing losses in 2018 to fight in 2020 when democrats will defend fewer seats. we doubt total obstruction helps with that.
the dance of chuck and liz - wsj
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