Palin as President of the Senate

[Brittain33]

How do people think Palin will do in the VP's role of working with Congress to get the President's agenda passed? She will most likely face a hostile Congress, and although I haven't run the numbers, it's possible that she will have been elected to governor with fewer votes than every single elected member of the Senate will have drawn in their most recent election. (Tim Johnson may be an exception, but I haven't looked it up; Wyoming is a smaller state, but the results are so lopsided and the senators such good Republicans it won't matter.)

Will she be respected by the world's greatest collection of egos? Does she have skills working with people who disagree with her on substantive issues? How does she help fill gaps in McCain's ability to work with others?

[Brittain33]

I really doubt that she'd receive less respect from the opposition than our current Vice President.

True, but Cheney had the luxury of working with a compliant and sizable Republican majority.

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The ideological spectrum is much narrower and slanted to the right than the federal spectrum, as surely all would acknowledge. It's like Bush talking about bringing Democrats and Republicans together in Texas, but the Democrats he was talking about there were the WD-40s who vote Republican on a federal level anyway.

Is Palin going to be able to roll Chuck Schumer? Maybe she can charm him. Hillary Clinton surprised everyone with her skill with Republican senators, and Palin may do the same. I mean this sincerely.

[Brittain33]

Who cares?  The Vice President is hardly ever on the Senate floor.  They only show up to break tie-votes.

I foresee Biden playing a major role in getting legislation passed, if elected.

[Brittain33]

True, but Cheney had the luxury of working with a compliant and sizable Republican majority.

Not these days.

And no one would say the White House is a model of effectiveness this session, aside from the FISA bitter-enders on Daily Kos. It was in the past.

[Brittain33]

Palin got 114,697 votes in the 2006 general election. (Undoubtedly she'd draw a lot more in 2010, assuming no major scandals.)

Mike Enzi got 133,710 votes in 2002.
Joe Biden got 135,253 votes that year.
Kent Conrad got 150,146 votes in 2006. (I'm not going to look up Dorgan.)
Tim Johnson drew 167,481 in 2002.
Tom Carper drew 170,567 in 2006.
Bernie Sanders drew 171,638 in 2006.
Jon Tester got 199,845 in 2006.

[Brittain33]

Mike Enzi got 133,710 votes in 2002.
Joe Biden got 135,253 votes that year.
Kent Conrad got 150,146 votes in 2006. (I'm not going to look up Dorgan.)
Tim Johnson drew 167,481 in 2002.
Tom Carper drew 170,567 in 2006.
Bernie Sanders drew 171,638 in 2006.
Jon Tester got 199,845 in 2006.

Alan Keyes got 1,390,690 in 2004.  This is relevant because?

Because Senators have notoriously big egos and are hard to deal with, and she's going to have a lot to prove. That's all. This shouldn't be a partisan discussion; a Democrat coming in from outside Washington with limited experience is also going to suffer an equal lack of respect.