Biden: Five senators in GOP are eager to work with President Obama

Vice President Biden said Tuesday that a “leading Republican senator” is eager to work with President Obama if the GOP takes control of the Senate.

Biden said the senator, whom he declined to name, called him hours before polls closed and said a number of his colleagues wanted an immediate sit-down with the administration after the elections to find common ground.

{mosads}“A leading Republican senator who’s up this time around, who’s likely to win, called me today to say, ‘Joe, I want to meet with you right after the election,’ ” he told the Pittsburgh radio station KDKA.

Biden went on to assert that this senator said a handful of his GOP colleagues were of a similar mind and that both parties are well aware that the public is tired of congressional gridlock and partisan battles.

“He named four other senators who say, ‘We can do business with you. We’ve got to get something done. We can’t continue this gridlock,’ ” Biden added. “Everybody got the message. … Everybody out there is sick and tired.”

“I will not tell you his name, but I give you my word as a Biden,” he added.

Even while making those remarks, however, Biden continued to insist he was confident that Democrats would be able to hold onto their Senate majority. Polls show an uphill fight for Democrats to retain at least 51 seats in the chamber, but the vice president predicted the party’s efforts to get out sympathetic voters would make the difference.

“It’s going to be really tight, but the bottom line is it all gets down to turnout,” he said. “No one’s going to know how this is going to turn out until the polls close … but I think it’s going to turn out towards us. I think we’ll maintain the Senate. I’ll be happy with 51 [seats].”

Biden also said Obama’s dropping approval ratings are due largely to factors outside the president’s control, calling it a “confusing world out there.”

“They hear about Ebola, they hear about ISIS, they hear about it in the most sensational ways and they get really worried,” he said. “Then what happens is after things calm down, they don’t hear much about that.”