Beyond the Dome

Here’s a scenario to ponder: What if Sarah Palin did become such an activist vice president — if she gets the chance — that she could accurately be called “in charge of the Senate”?

Palin took a lot of heat for that remark to a Colorado television station last week, but some experts on the Senate now argue that she wasn’t necessarily off base. True, modern vice presidents almost never show up to preside over the Senate unless they’re breaking a tie vote. But that doesn’t mean the next vice president couldn’t revive the practice, and in fact, some conservatives think it might be good for a Republican vice president to get more involved if the Democrats expand their majority next week.

Brian Darling, the director of U.S. Senate relations at the Heritage Foundation, argues that early vice presidents actually spent a fair amount of time on their duties as Senate president, and that Palin would be within her rights to do so if she and John McCain win the election.

The main reason to preside over the Senate more actively, he said, would be to stop Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada from “filling the amendment tree” so often to prevent Republicans from trying to amend legislation. That’s a procedural manuever in which the majority leader offers enough amendments to fill all the slots that are available to change the bill.

But the tactic only works because the majority leader is traditionally recognized first, and if Palin actually presided over the Senate on a regular basis, she could simply refuse to recognize Reid first — and turn to Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky instead if it became clear that Reid was about to “fill the tree,” Darling said.

It seems like a risky move, to say the least. Leaving aside the fact that nobody in the Senate really knows Palin — except for the two Alaska senators, one of whom may not be back next year — the Senate could easily erupt in protests if Palin appeared to yank the steering wheel away from the Democratic majority too often.

But while Palin would have to choose her battles carefully, Darling said she and McCain could make the case that if they win the election, it’s because the voters want Republicans to have a voice in the process and not get shut out.

“She could come in and sit in the Senate and not just break tie votes, but make sure the agenda doesn’t go in a direction the administration didn’t want it to go,” he said.

Could Palin actually do that? Technically, yes, according to Robert B. Dove, who served as the Senate parliamentarian for many years. It’s not very likely, though, Dove said, given that recognizing the majority leader first has been a Senate tradition since the 1930s.

“The Senate is much more governed by tradition than rules,” he said.

In general, though, Palin wasn’t wrong to suggest that the vice president could take an active role in presiding over the Senate, Dove said. Both Hubert Humphrey and Nelson Rockefeller spent a lot of time in the chamber, largely because Presidents Lyndon Johnson and Gerald Ford shut them out of the workings of the White House. It was only when Walter Mondale expanded the access and influence of the vice presidency, Dove said, that vice presidents stopped spending so much time in the Senate — because they had better things to do.

The subject could be academic unless McCain and Palin turn their poll numbers around, of course. But if they do manage to pull an upset next week, don’t be surprised if Palin means what she says about hanging around the Senate more often.