Filibuster reform whip count: Two North Carolina Democratic candidates sign on

by: Chris Bowers

Fri Feb 19, 2010 at 10:25

Cunningham's statement came in the form of an email petition yesterday:

It's time to end the filibuster in its current form. If you agree, sign my online petition to tell our elected and party leaders it's time to change the filibuster.

I asked someone in the Marshall camp to for a response to this email, and received the following reply:

Her statement is we need to fix the filibuster. Pretty much the same thing that Cunningham is saying. At a joint candidate appearance last week, she mentioned it, Cal didn't. He's late to the game.

To which the Cunningham campaign responded:

Cal Cunningham discussed reforming the filibuster in this interview taped on January 20.

Democratic candidates trying to one up each other on the filibuster?  I like where this is going!

To be sure, neither Marshall nor Cunningham is by any means certain to be in the Senate next year when the crucial vote takes place in the first week of January.  Still, North Carolina is a very winnable campaign, as both Cunningham and Marshall lead incumbent Republican Richard Burr among voters who have an opinion of either Marshall or Cunningham.

I am not making a big secret out of my preference for Marshall in this primary.  Still, this is another demonstration of why intra-Democratic competition is good for all involved, and that filibuster reform is far from being something that only liberal and progressive Democrats support.

In the extended entry, I provide a list of current supporters of filibuster reform.

Update: Another Senate challenger, Jonathan Tasini, has come out in favor of filibuster reform.

• Supports 51-vote Senate (11): Begich (AK); Bingaman (NM); Brown (OH); Durbin (IL); Harkin (IA); Johnson (SD); Kerry (MA); Lautenberg (NJ); Lieberman (CT); Shaheen (NH); Udall (NM)
  

• Supports some kind of reform (8): Biden (VP); Blumenthal (CT, incoming); Casey (PA); Conrad (ND); Feingold (WI); Leahy (VT); Levin (MI); Merkley (OR)

• Supports some kind of reform (1): Marhsall or Cunningham (leading Dems for NC-Sen)

However, this is far from impossible.  Twenty current or potential Democratic Senators (21 if you include Evan Bayh, who won't be around in 2011) support some sort of reform, even if not a 51-vote Senate.  It has a wide base of ideological support, and also support for a potential Senate Majority leader.  With over ten months to go, that makes filibuster reform a winnable campaign.