corrente

I'm really warming to the Reid/Dean/Pelosi combo. The prospect of being hanged seems to have concentrated the minds of the Beltway Dems wonderfully:

Reid visits Pittsburgh for a town hall, and has this to say on the Bush Social Security phase-out:

Afterward, Reid told the Post-Gazette editorial board that he had enough votes in the Senate to block President Bush's proposal to introduce private savings accounts as an alternative to the existing federal retirement plan. "It's dead," Reid said. "The president just hasn't acknowledged it yet."
(via Post Gazette)

And 2006 should be a very interesting real in Pennsylvania:

[Reid] also told the editorial board that the Pennsylvania Senate seat held by Republican Rick Santorum is the Democratic Party's principal target in the 2006 elections.
Asked at the editorial board meeting about Democratic prospects in 2006, Reid said: "Our priority so far in this election cycle is Bob Casey Jr."

Casey, the state treasurer, had a 17-point lead over Santorum in a recent poll, Reid said.

Arf!

Of course, Casey does actually live in Pennsylvania, unlike Santorum, who lives in Virginia yet still has his Pennsylvania district pay for his kids schooling (here). So you could say Casey has an unfair advantage.

And here's Reid on the post-nuclear Senate:

"We're not going to bring the Senate to a standstill," Reid said. "The troops will get their money." But he said Democrats would make life difficult for Senate Republicans by requiring votes on procedural questions, which normally are resolved by unanimous consent.

"please, Brer Fox, don't fling me in that briar patch"?!?!

NOTE www.santorum.com seems to be for sale. It's not cheap, though.

UPDATE Thanks to alert reader ArC for the carpetbagger link.