Dems scrambling to avoid Burris spectacle

Roland Burris will arrive on Tuesday at the door of the U.S. Senate for a showdown that a growing number of Democratic members would prefer not to have.

Senate Democratic leaders want to avoid a spectacle that would attract a media frenzy should Burris attempt to gain access to the Senate floor to be sworn in as Barack Obama’s replacement.

{mosads}Burris flew into Washington late Monday afternoon, after telling reporters in Chicago he is “hoping and praying” he will be sworn in and announcing that he plans to show up at the Senate at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday.

  In a phone interview with The Hill, Burris said, “We’re going to go up to the [Senate] door, and if we’re turned away, then  we’ll document all of that and consult our lawyers.”

But Burris added a bit of diplomacy, toning down the racial rhetoric he and his aides have employed recently.

“Never in my whole political career have I brought up race,” Burris told The Hill. “It is certainly not a factor here.”

Two senior Democratic aides say efforts are ongoing to resolve the delicate situation created by Burris’s appointment by Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D). A Wednesday meeting is still planned between Burris, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), but that will be a day after freshman senators are sworn in as the 111th Congress.

Aides say rank-and-file Democratic senators have in recent days begun expressing concern that the situation has become too distracting and that both sides should temper their stances.

“There is some bristling at the member level that both sides are digging in too much and need to cool down,” one senior aide said. “Members are basically saying, ‘We owe it to ourselves to give us some leeway — we may not have the option to deny him a seat forever.’ ”

Another aide said distraction was more of a factor than any concern about the strength of Democratic leaders’ case against seating Burris. The party needs to focus on the economic stimulus plan, confirmation hearings, new committee and leadership assignments and a host of other concerns in the dwindling days before President-elect Obama’s inauguration on Jan. 20.

“We need this to go away, and the way to do that in the Senate is to make a deal,” the aide said.

“That’s what Wednesday is all about.”

The staffers said the tenor of the Burris-Reid meeting on Wednesday will depend on Burris’s actions on Tuesday. Some Democrats have become exasperated by Burris’s aggressive approach and repeated references to race.

{mospagebreak}Burris, his aides and Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) have suggested that Democratic leaders are not recognizing Blagojevich’s pick because he is black.

“If you embarrass someone in public and cause a scene one day, your meeting with that person typically doesn’t go well the next day,” one senior aide said. “How can he expect to be a respected legislator who will get help with his agenda if he’s using threats and lawsuits to force his way into the chamber?”

There are signs that both sides are indeed backing down slightly. Senate Sergeant at Arms Terrance Gainer — an old friend of Burris’s from his days as chief of the Illinois State Police and a deputy inspector general in the state — said he plans to contact Burris’s staff Tuesday morning to consider options and avoid any confrontation.

{mosads}Reid, speaking on NBC’s “Meet The Press” Sunday, dropped hints that Burris could be seated if Illinois Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn (D) succeeds Blagojevich and decides to appoint Burris. Some Democrats believe Blagojevich will be impeached over the next several weeks.

Burris himself on Monday also stepped back, distancing himself from his supporters’ comments.
“I cannot control my supporters,” Burris said. “I have never in my life, in all of my years of being elected to office, thought anything about race. “

Reid said at press time that Burris is welcome in the Senate on Tuesday, but that he has no plans to meet with him before Wednesday and that Burris will not be allowed on the chamber floor.

“There’s no reason he’d be on the floor unless there were some special permission,” Reid said. “Until he’s certified, I wouldn’t suggest that would be done.”

Meanwhile, a senior Democratic aide said efforts by Rush to win support for Burris behind the scenes seem to have met with limited success, as the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) does not appear to be rallying behind Burris. One aide said Rush’s use of racial rhetoric at Burris’s press conference last month hurt the effort more than it helped.

“There is a sense that Rush is largely alone,” the aide said. “He kind of sealed his fate with his incendiary talk.”

Calls for comment to Rush and several CBC members as well as the CBC Foundation were not returned.

Rush announced last week that a national coalition is backing Burris, which culminated in a prayer service Sunday evening at a Chicago church.

Another aide said initial anger at Rush has largely dissipated among members in the days since, but Democrats do not want the issue to return or fester.

“It would be in everybody’s interest to cool down, and that goes for Burris too,” the aide said. “It would be in his best interest to be delicate [on Tuesday].”

Burris sidestepped questions on Monday about a Chicago Sun-Times report that Senate leaders may agree to seat him if he agrees not to seek election to a full term in 2010.

“I haven’t heard that,” Burris said. “That decision has not been made. Let me get in and get seated and get — get my Senate legs under me and begin to tackle the problems. And we’ll decide that later on.”

Asked if he would agree to such terms as a condition of being seated, Burris said, “I can’t negotiate in the press.”

A Senate Democratic aide would not confirm the possibility, but did acknowledge that electoral politics in 2010 are a large part of the problem, since any candidate appointed by Blagojevich would be more crippled against a GOP opponent than any candidate appointed by Quinn.

“Republicans would be running against Blagojevich’s pick,” the aide said. “We would really prefer to run with a Quinn pick.”