Sen. Chuck Schumer, whose role in last year's Democratic Senate victory confirmed his status as one of the party's most influential strategists, said Democrats can take the White House and more Senate seats in 2008 by concentrating on the party's traditional focus - domestic issues.
"Somebody who can deal with education, health care, energy independence, high drug prices and the basic lack of progress in recent years by the middle class is going to have the upper hand," he said in an interview with the Daily News.
Schumer has begun his second cycle as chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, after a year in which a hat trick of narrow Senate wins gave Democrats control of the body and gave Schumer credit for a combination of relentless fund-raising and strategic vision. In an interview, he said he's already begun to prepare for the Senate contests in 2008, a year in which he said Democrats will have the edge in a climate in which Americans are - after two decades of skepticism - again turning to government for protection and support. With his new stature, and a book due out later this month, he's working to convert his party to his brand of consumer populism.
"The average person, for the first time in a while, has an uneasy feeling about the future and wants government to make things a little better," Schumer said. "All things being equal, [2008] is going to be a good Democratic year."
Schumer built his own career around consumer-focused, middle-class issues. His causes include an attack on Major League Baseball's plan for on-field advertising and an investigation of cereal prices, along with more traditional legislative fights like the assault weapons ban.
Though Schumer said the Iraq war - and the mistakes America made there - would also be central to the 2008 contest, he said he doesn't see it as centrally focused on national security.
"If, God forbid, there's another terrorist attack, then maybe ... security will become more important," he said.
Schumer said he will back Sen. Hillary Clinton for President if she runs, but he was careful to praise her likely rival, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama. "If you're going to quote me on this, make sure you use the whole quote," he began. "I won't say a bad thing about Obama. I think he's intelligent and understands people.
"Having said that, Hillary has lots of experience. She's seen how government works from both an executive and legislative perspective, and I think she'll be our strongest candidate as well as a really good President," he said.
Schumer has also begun to assemble candidates for the 33 Senate seats that will be contested in 2008. It's seen as a year that favors Democrats, with 12 Democratic incumbents up for reelection compared with 21 Republicans.
His first goal is ensuring that no Democrat retires.
"We have now gotten 11 of the 12 Democrats to commit to running again. [Iowa Sen.] Tom Harkin is still making up his mind," Schumer said, going on to lavish praise on the 67-year-old Democrat. "He's a great senator. He does more in a couple of years than many senators have done in a lifetime."
Schumer said the three most vulnerable Republicans are Colorado Sen. Wayne Allard, New Hampshire's John Sununu and Minnesota's Norm Coleman - who went to high school with Schumer in Brooklyn. He said a Democrat, Rep. Mark Udall, had already stepped forward to challenge Allard, but that he hasn't yet recruited challengers for the other two seats.
Schumer cautioned that despite the Democrats' apparent edge, most of the year's contests are in Republican-leaning states.
"It's a very tough map," he said.
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