Schumer, Durbin vying to become top Senate Democrat?

WASHINGTON - There's a familiar dance going on now as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) battles for survival, and his potential successors quietly and gingerly perform the required steps.

Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois and Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, the top candidates for Reid's leadership post, resist all queries about their ambitions to be their party's Senate chief.

"Senator Durbin believes that Harry Reid will be re-elected next week and will remain majority leader," Durbin spokesman Joe Shoemaker said last week.

Schumer spokesman Brian Fallon declined to comment.

But as Durbin and Schumer await Nevadans' verdict on Reid on Tuesday, they're taking the same steps Reid did six years ago when Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), the party's Senate leader at the time, was struggling to retain his seat.

Reid, then the No. 2 Senate Democrat, faced a potential rival in Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.). So Reid worked hard for Daschle and helped his party's Senate races.

"We believe Senator Daschle is going to be re-elected and are doing everything we can to help him out," said a Reid aide in October 2004.

Reid's leadership PAC contributed to Daschle and other Senate candidates and gave $1 million to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

Daschle lost, but Reid racked up so much support, including Daschle's, that Dodd dropped out. In 10 days, Reid had the job.

Now that Reid is on the bubble, the race to the top looks more complicated, said Rutgers scholar Ross K. Baker.

Durbin and Schumer share living quarters in Washington, rank second and third among Senate Democrats, and both claim strong ties with Reid.

While Durbin is in line for the top job, Schumer is bumping up against him.

Schumer calls Reid his "best friend in the Senate" and said opened doors for him. After Schumer, as Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee chairman, won 14 seats in 2006 and 2008 to wrest Senate control from the GOP, Reid created the third-ranked party post for him.

There's no evidence that Schumer and Durbin are actively campaigning for the job, but records show, like Reid in 2004, they're spending money and time to help the embattled leader and their party.

Durbin had his leadership PAC give $10,000 to Reid's campaign and $5,000 to the Nevada Democratic Party. He has campaigned with Reid and hosted a fundraiser for him in Chicago.

Durbin also gave $460,000 to the DSCC and is a party surrogate expected to appear in a dozen states to campaign.

Schumer, meanwhile, is also flexing his money muscle.

In New York, while campaigning for his own re-election, Schumer hosted a fundraiser in Manhattan for Reid. And Schumer's leadership PAC gave Reid $10,000, while his campaign fund gave the Nevada party $500,000.

Schumer not only gave more than $350,000 to Senate candidates and state parties, but also donated $3 million to the DSCC.

Yet in the end, Baker said, Democrats will decide on their next leader in very personal, pragmatic terms, asking themselves: "How is this person going to act in regard to me and my needs?"