Retirement at 60

Harry Reid may fantasize about a Democratic Senatorial sweep in 2008, leaving no cloture problems. Well, probably not - that would be a stretch even for a Washington Democrat. There are two levels of Democratic win in the Senate in 2008:

• Bugger off, Joe Lieberman
• Nirvana

Nirvana - 60 reliable votes - is about as likely as Megamillions (and I blew $10 last night for a few hours of irrational hope), so a realistic Democrat would aim to tell Fox-in-the-henhouse Joe to go caucus himself.

Since even 2008 will not give Democrats a filibuster-proof majority, Reid needs to concentrate on turning non-wingnut Republicans into votes for cloture. It's not polite, it's not friendly, it's not chummy, but we need the toughness of a gutsy majority leader. I'm still waiting.