“To be honest with you, I was really worried when [Franken] first announced,” Schumer said. “I was worried that his jokes would get him in trouble, but more importantly that he was just running from the left and not serious. He is a very serious candidate, and he gets it and he knows how to talk to average people.”
In fact, things are going so well for Schumer that he won’t even rule out doing it again for an unheard-of third term at the helm of the DSCC.
At the same time, he said he has “no desire” to be governor, even though he has weighed a run before and the seat is vacant in 2010 now that Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D) has resigned.
“People don’t believe this, but I don’t plan ahead … We’ll just cross that bridge when we get to it,” he said. “I would say one thing: It’s hard when you are running for office. The traditional wisdom is you shouldn’t be in the DSCC [when running].”
Schumer is up for reelection in 2010.
The 57-year-old Yankees fan, who describes himself as “a creature of habit,” says he usually works six days a week, with the average workday ending around midnight.
Schumer, a former House member who still works out in the House gym, added, “I love what I am doing. I wake up Monday morning and I like going to work. I’m happy.”
While Schumer has shone as DSCC chairman, he went through a rough patch as a legislator in recent months over the man he suggested the White House nominate as attorney general.
A former federal judge and a fellow New Yorker, Mukasey appeared to be sailing through his confirmation hearings in October until he struggled to explain whether he believed waterboarding constitutes illegal torture under domestic and international law.
Mukasey said he could not answer since the CIA had not briefed him on any U.S. program that employs the simulating drowning technique. His hedging infuriated Democrats.
Under enormous pressure, Schumer stood by Mukasey, and he continues to do so today.
“I had a difficult time,” Schumer said. “I don’t mind people having disagreeing views, but … a lot of the blogs said there was no courage.
“But believe me,” he added, “the easy decision for me would have been to go against Mukasey. I just thought it was wrong.”
Schumer, along with Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), voted for Mukasey, saying he represented the best possible Bush administration successor to Alberto Gonzales to restore the integrity of the Justice Department. Their votes allowed the nomination to advance from the Judiciary Committee to the full Senate.
“It became a symbolic issue, you know: ‘Vote against torture,’ ” Schumer said. “I tend not to be a symbolic politician. I’m a meat-and-potato politician.”
Schumer also insisted that the still-undecided Democratic presidential race won’t hurt his candidates in the fall but that he thinks the candidates should sit down after the final primaries in early June and hammer out a solution.
Some Democrats have begun expressing worry that the back-and-forth between Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is damaging a party that is otherwise on pace for a successful election.
“The deep feeling of the people is they want change and they want Democrats,” Schumer said. “All these little daily, weekly [political battles] are forgotten a week later — I don’t think we’ve had anything really significant.”
Manu Raju contributed to this report.
Excerpts of interview with DSCC Chairman Charles Schumer Q: How confident are you that Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) will win reelection?
A: Mary Landrieu is our only incumbent now who has any degree of difficulty, and she’s going to win it. … She’s very different than [Kathleen] Blanco, the [former] governor who has had trouble. She has a Level B candidate [in state Treasurer John Kennedy]. It’s not a Level A, it’s not a Level C.
Q: What about Maine, where Rep. Tom Allen (D) is challenging Sen. Susan Collins (R)? Can you beat a popular incumbent Republican in a blue state as you did in 2006 against Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-R.I.)?
A: Of all the Republican incumbents we’re going after, every single one— even those in the redder states— she is the most popular. But it is a bluer state. Allen is one of the best candidates we have, and we are very hopeful that we’ll have a repeat of the Rhode Island race, because Susan Collins has voted with Bush an overwhelming proportion of the time.
Q: Is there any reason for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to be worried about his approval ratings back home for his 2010 reelection campaign?
A:Nah, he’ll come right back. It’s very hard to be the leader. When you are the leader, you have to represent the Democratic Party or the Republican Party. … If you are not the leader, you have much greater opportunity to be bipartisan back in your state.
Q: Why will Democrats win when Congress has low approval ratings?
A: I came to Congress in 1980. I saw how out of touch Democrats were. Crime was ripping apart my district, ripping it apart. … And who’s writing the crime legislation for the Democrats and had been for 20 years? The ACLU. Now, they are a fine organization, they should be at the table, but to have them write it? When their basic view was, “Let 1,000 guilty people go free lest you convict one innocent person”? Forget it. Well, [Republicans] are just as out of touch now.
Q: Are you taking heat from the blogs for not choosing more ideologically pure candidates in some races?
A: Some people are very upset about [Iraq war veteran Andrew] Horne [dropping out] in Kentucky. … We obviously pick candidates who are in the Democratic mainstream, and we like candidates who will be good senators, but winning matters. And so, do I occasionally take some flak? Sure. But that’s part of the game and I don’t mind it. That’s my job.
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