Charles Schumer: ‘Impossible’ for Democrats to lose Senate in 2012
A top Democrat said it’s “almost impossible” Republicans will take over the Senate majority in 2012.
Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), his party’s former campaign chairman, acknowledged that Democrats have a tough political map as they seek to defend dozens of seats in the Senate, in which Democrats hold a 53-seat majority. Republicans, with far fewer seats to hold, are targeting the chamber for a flip.
“When you look at it from 30,000 feet, it looks bad,” Schumer said during a breakfast meeting at Third Way, the moderate Democratic think tank. “You look at it race by race, it looks good.”
Schumer predicted Democrats could pick up Republican-held seats in Massachusetts, Indiana, Arizona or Nevada.
“If we pick up a seat or two, it’s almost impossible to say we lose the Senate -- unless just the roof falls in,” Schumer said. “I think we’re likely to pick up a seat or two -- Republican seats.”
Brian Walsh, a spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, called Schumer’s assessment “out of touch with political reality.”
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