Senate Dems McCaskill & Nelson support extending tax cuts for the rich – can Carper be far behind?

Claire McCaskill and Bill Nelson typically make headlines when they side with the Republicans. For whatever reason, they allow Tom Carper (who is never in danger of being defeated by a Republican challenger) to trail behind and obsequiously serve the 1% in a much lower profile capacity.

Democratic leaders maintain they are content to play defense, but are worried that some vulnerable Democrats might defect and support a temporary extension of all the Bush-era rates, which would undercut their negotiating position.

Sens. Claire McCaskill (Mo.) and Bill Nelson (Fla.), two Democrats facing tough races this year, on Thursday declined to rule out support for an across-the-board extension of the rates. “If you want to do something in the spirit of compromise, you don’t start out by saying, ‘I refuse to do this’ or ‘I refuse to do that,’ ” said McCaskill. “It’s not my preference to extend tax cuts to multimillionaires — that’s not my preference — but I want to keep every option open in the spirit of compromise.”

Said Nelson, “I can’t get into a hypothetical.” Democrats from Republican-leaning states are also undecided.

Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), who is up for reelection in 2014, said he is undecided about whether to support another temporary extension of the Bush tax rates for all income brackets.

Someone needs to remind me what these tax cuts are for… Oh yeah. They help the economy. Never mind.