Report: Patty Murray May Chair DSCC Through 2012

Guy Benson | November 29, 2010 10:24 AM

Senate Democrats may have finally identified a member willing to take the reins at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee for the 2012 cycle. This task has

proven challenging for party leaders, as a cavalcade of possible candidates have demurred in the face of a harrowing 2012 political landscape. Nevertheless, the job must be done, and Harry Reid appears to have found his woman:

Washington Sen. Patty Murray has emerged as a leading candidate to take the pivotal job of running the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in the 2011-12 cycle and will decide as early as next week, according to several Democratic insiders familiar with the talks.
Nothing has been finalized yet, these Democratic sources cautioned. But Murray is seriously considering the offer, having spent recent days talking with colleagues and her family about whether she should become chairwoman of a committee that faces the challenge of defending the seats of 21 Democrats and two independents in a presidential election year.

Murray led the DSCC in 2002, when Republicans gained two seats to recapture a slim 51-49 majority in the upper chamber. She narrowly won re-election this year, nipping perennial GOP candidate Dino Rossi. If she accepts the position, part of Murray's task will be to protect her predecessor, New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez, who is expected to face a stiff challenge in two years.

Senate Republicans unanimously selected John Cornyn to head the NRSC for a second consecutive cycle. The GOP picked up six Senate seats in the 2010 midterm elections.