Democrats’ Heir Apparent Looks Past Obama Era on Iran Deal

Roll Call reports:

The White House may want Charles E. Schumer tossed overboard as the next Democratic leader, but presidents don’t get a vote.

The senior New York Democrat’s opposition to the Iran nuclear deal comes as Schumer looks ahead to an era when Obama will be writing his memoirs and Schumer will set the Senate agenda.

And while Schumer now has a passel of liberal groups — and a posse of ex-White House aides — out to get him, his decision isn’t likely to change his status as the heir apparent to retiring Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

That is, unless he somehow succeeds in killing the deal instead of just opposing it. Then all bets just might be off. But according to former Reid spokesman Jim Manley, that’s unlikely.

“That’s not going to happen; that’s hypothetical,” said Manley, who is now a director at QGA Public Affairs. “As in the past, if asked by his colleagues, I expect him to give his opinion, but I can’t imagine he’s going to be out there whipping it hard against it. This is one of these true votes of conscience.”

The struggles of the Blue coalition.