Charles Wheelan is the founder of The Centrist Project, a 501(c)4 creating the first political home for centrists.
The organization is based on his book, "The Centrist Manifesto" (W.W. Norton), which outlines a set of centrist principles: fiscal responsibility, environmental responsibility, social tolerance, and genuine economic opportunity for all.
The book also outlines an innovative electoral strategy to elect five centrist U.S. senators empowered to broker deals across party lines. The Centrist Project's ultimate goal is to help pragmatic leaders and voters solve America's greatest policy challenges.
The Centrist Project has announced it will endorse five moderate candidates in the 2014 elections, and is mobilizing money and voters to support these candidates, and take back the Senate for the middle.
So I began to wonder if this actually took place, how would the Senate determine, who is the majority party?
And to my surprise, this is what I found.
For an independent senator, they must announce who they will caucus for, if they want their vote to count in the selection process of majority and minority leaders.
So again, if an independent wants to take part in the selection process of the Senate, they have to be a Democrat or a Republican.
But I agree with the concept of becoming the consensus builders working across party lines to represent the 40+ percent of independent voters.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!
Michael H. Drucker
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4 comments:
However, a third party senator is free to establish his or her own caucus.
Yes, but they will not be able to determine the majority in the senate during the first meeting of the new congress after the general election. One of the reasons for the post, was a conversation I had with one of the independent candidates who make the remarks, if there was 4 independents in the senate they could declare an independent caucus.
In 1854, no party got a majority in the US House of Representatives. The new Republican Party got the most seats; the Democrats came in 2nd; and the American "Know-Nothing" Party came in 3rd.
Because the Republicans couldn't stand to have a Democrat for Speaker, and the Democrats couldn't stand to have a Republican for speaker, the House was organized with an American Party speaker, Nicholas Banks of Massachusetts. Maybe the independents in the US Senate could do the same in 2015.
If there was 4 independents in the senate and the number of major parties were 48-48, what would the new rules committee do?
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