The Democratic blog Daily Kos excerpts some fascinating comments from Tom Daschle, quoted in National Journal's Hotline, ostensibly made during Daschle's meeting with President Clinton last week. Thus Daschle on the recruiting efforts of Republicans to take on incumbent Democratic senators:
"At the beginning of the current Congress a year ago, there was a lot of skepticism that we could take back the Senate in 2004. We heard it not just from our friends in Labor, political pundits and donors, but also among ourselves." A Dem majority in '04 seemd "out of reach. Bush was strong, our presidential prospects were uncertain and our Senate candidates unknown." Bush and Karl Rove envisioned their "Dream Team" of Senate recruits, including: Jennifer Dunn in WA SEN; Mike Huckabee in AR SEN; Ed Shafer in ND SEN; Jim Gibbons in NV SEN; Tommy Thompson in WI SEN and Rudy Giuliani in NY SEN.More Daschle: "Not one of those races materialized. But with few exceptions, Republicans have failed in their recruiting efforts. And where they have failed, we have exceeded expectations." Daschle singled out Tony Knowles in AK SEN, Brad Carson in OK SEN, Erskine Bowles in NC SEN, Inez Tenenbaum in SC SEN, Joe Hoeffel in PA SEN and Nancy Farmer in MO SEN. Daschle then proclaimed: "We have a path to 51 seats." Daschle also noted that according to "polling available today, we lead in 7 of the 8 most competitive races of the cycle. ... If the elections were held today, we would be in the majority."
Note that one of the "exceptions" Daschle skates over is his own race with John Thune. Note too that even Kos isn't as optimistic as Daschle, and would be happy if the Dems just stayed even. But I think you can count on David Kranz, the dean of South Dakota political reporters, to excerpt these quotes extensively in his column next Sunday, as he tries to convince South Dakotans that if Daschle is re-elected, he will become the majority leader.
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