"It's still the case that most Senators see a president when they look in the mirror," writes Jon Bernstein, "and that continues to be an important ingredient that helps make the Senate what it is."
You hear this all the time. But what's the evidence that it's true? Only one Senate Republican -- John Thune -- even explored running for president this cycle, and he decided against it. There were more in 2008, which was considered a banner year for senators with presidential ambitions, but "more" only meant five or six sitting senators who even considered entering the race. It didn't mean 15 or 20.
So who are all these senators who are keeping their presidential ambitions so tightly controlled? I know Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell don't see a president when they look in the mirror. I don't think Chuck Grassley or Max Baucus consider themselves likely presidents, nor do Ron Wyden or Mike Enzi. Is Amy Klobuchar planning a run? Chuck Schumer? John Barraso? Jay Rockefeller?
As far as I can tell, most senators look in the mirror and see a future committee chairperson, not a future president. And that's why most of them tend to keep their heads down and be team players rather than act out and grab the headlines for themselves. The idea that they all see themselves as a future president seems to me to be a cheap shot -- a way of making fun of their egos and ambitions without actually doing the hard work of evaluating their job performance and seeing whether they really do seem to be out for themselves.
Source: http://feeds.voices.washingtonpost.com/click.phdo?i=f3bd342cb796f87306cf99bca216e7c1
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