Beyond the Dome

It’s not as if a presidential nominee has time to come back to the Senate and steer their bills through the messy legislative process. Lately, they haven’t even been able to come back and vote, unless the entire Senate’s schedule is twisted to make sure they don’t have to show up until the evening.

And Clinton’s recent output has been pretty high compared with the other two senator/candidates. Since October, John McCain has only introduced one standalone bill: the “gas tax holiday,” which happens to be one of his campaign proposals. And since December, Barack Obama hasn’t introduced any. (This count doesn’t include bills they co-sponsored, because it doesn’t take much effort to sign your name to something.)

Maybe Clinton is a harder-working senator than her rivals. Maybe her legislative shop in the Senate is just more active than the others. And maybe it’s because she is “truly a policy wonk,” as one of her economic advisers, Brian Deese, said at a forum yesterday on the candidates’ domestic policy plans.

Her spokesman, Philippe Reines, says it’s because she’s doing her job as a senator and insists she has always cranked out the bills. “Senator Clinton’s commitment to New York and the issues important to New Yorkers is as strong today as the day she took office, and she continues to work tirelessly for New York,” he said. “Their economic and security needs aren’t on hold during this election.”

It’s impossible to prove any other reason for her latest burst in productivity, of course, so for now it’s probably just a curious development that’s worth watching more closely.

And if Obama starts introducing bills again – as he tries to dig out from the rubble of Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s “Look at Me!” tour – that could be worth watching too.