Brown's victory was nationally significant because it removed the Democrats' filibuster proof, 60-man super-majority in the Senate.
Democrats wound up with a whopping 292 seats (67.1%) in the House and a filibuster proof 61 seats in the U.S. Senate.
The Republican majority in the Senate majority was not filibuster proof (55 seats), and Democratic majority in the House was enormous (272 members).
For Democrats, that does not bode well for a 2012 election with 23 Democrat Senate seats at stake, and a filibuster proof Republican majority possible by winning only half of those.
In test votes, the Marketplace Fairness Act of 2013 ( S.743), backed by traditional bricks and mortar retailers, web retailing giant Amazon.com, and state officials, has gotten bipartisan, filibuster proof majorities.
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Now Republican fears are growing that Democrats could lock in a filibuster-proof 60-40 majority in Congress.
The market is discounting an Obama presidency and a 60-seat filibuster-proof Democratic Senate majority.
In the Senate, Republicans would like to boost their majority to a filibuster-proof 60 seats.
Even if the Democrats don't win a filibuster-proof 60 seats in the Senate, there are Republicans, including U.S. Sen.
Aren't you euphoric, ebullient? (Laughter.) I mean, if Al Franken gets in you've got a filibuster-proof Senate.
Neither party has had a filibuster-proof majority in the U.S. Senate since the 95th Congress, from 1977 to 1979.
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If the Democrats take both remaining contests, they'll reach their pre-election goal of controlling 60 Senate seats, a filibuster-proof majority.
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Add the votes of liberal Republicans like Arlen Specter and Susan Collins and the Democrats may reach a filibuster-proof majority.
Democrats in the Senate are hoping to win 60 seats -- enough to secure a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate.
They could reach the magic filibuster-proof 60 if Al Franken is ever officially declared the winner of last November's Minnesota race.
And Republicans suffered a further setback on Monday in their fight to stop the Democrats winning a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate.
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But unless Republicans win a filibuster-proof 60 seats in the Senate, he will not be able to repeal Obamacare or Dodd-Frank outright.
Also, their influence is credited with electing a Republican to Ted Kennedy's Senate seat, dropping the Democrats below the filibuster-proof 60-vote majority and demoralizing them.
If Barack Obama wins with a near filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, we know that taxes on income, savings and investment will go up.
They need to pick up five seats for a filibuster-proof majority.
Unfortunately, the voters did not figure on the Democrats being able to steal the Senate race in Minnesota, thus getting a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate.
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In principle, that means that it could die in the Senate next week, since the Democrats are currently two votes short of a filibuster-proof majority there.
Last year's midterm elections produced a Republican wave that enabled the party to take back the House of Representatives and to eliminate the Democrats' filibuster-proof Senate majority.
It will take nothing less than a new president (or the much longer odds of the election of a filibuster-proof Republican Senate majority) to repeal Obamacare and start over.
The Republicans have targeted Ms Boxer as one of five vulnerable Democrats they need to unseat in order to achieve their dream of a filibuster-proof 60 votes in the Senate.
Some Democrats, delirious over the Craig affair, are even talking about winning a filibuster-proof majority (60 seats out of 100) in the Senate for the first time since Jimmy Carter's presidency.
Instead, with a filibuster-proof Senate of 60 Democrats, he began the Bataan death march to national health care a new entitlement at a time when the current entitlement state is buckling and unaffordable.
While paying lip service to the idea, will President-elect Obama use his political skills to sidetrack or, more likely, water down this un-American proposal, made easier by Democrats not gaining a filibuster-proof Senate?
The deal-making to garner votes during the year-long health care debate, such as special payments to specific states, coupled with last-minute maneuvering after Democrats lost their filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, soured voters.
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