Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chair Patty Murray said she plans to expand the 2012 Democratic playing field Thursday, highlighting six GOP-held Senate seats she believes Democrats can win.

The Republican-held seats where Murray said the DSCC is “aggressively recruiting” candidates in are Massachusetts, Nevada, Indiana, Maine, Arizona and Texas. She said the races are either in states where Democrats hold an advantage, states where shifting demographics play in their favor, or contests featuring “bloody” Republican primaries.

Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet will serve as chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee for the 2014 election cycle, Democratic sources told POLITICO exclusively.

Guy Cecil, the highly regarded executive director, will also return for another two-year term. Cecil served as Bennet’s campaign manager during his successful 2010 Senate run in Colorado.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) informed the Democratic Caucus of his DSCC pick during the regular policy luncheon on Tuesday. Bennet was Reid’s top choice for the post.

“Michael is one of the brightest rising stars in the Democratic Party, and he is exactly the right person to lead our efforts over the next two years,” Reid said in a statement. “Not only does Michael know how to win tough races, he has the trust and loyalty of the entire Democratic Caucus behind him.”

Bennet, an up-and-comer among Senate Democats, will face a tough Senate landscape in 2014, with Democrats currently holding seats in red states like Arkansas, Louisiana, West Virginia and Alaska, among others. Democrats are defending 20 seats versus only 13 seats for Republicans. And in the many of the seats that GOP incumbents control - for instance, in Mississippi, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Wyoming, Alabama and Georgia - it’s hard to see at this point how a Democratic challenger could win statewide.

But coming off a highly successful 2011-12 cycle for the DSCC, when Senate Democrats actually picked up two seats despite widespread predictions that they would lose their majority, Bennet said he is confident Democrats can win again in Nov. 2014.

“This will not be an easy job, but I feel strongly that families and small businesses in my state have a lot riding on our success,” Bennet said. “Coloradans, like all Americans, need a U.S. Senate that fights for them – not the special interests. The DSCC has helped stop the rise of the tea party and given ordinary families more voices in Washington.”

Both Reid and Bennet also praised Cecil’s decision to stay on as DSCC executive director. “I couldn’t be happier that Guy has agreed to continue at the DSCC,” Reid added. “He has been an outstanding leader in our party and provided strong strategic leadership in 2012. He has my full confidence.”

Senate Republicans likely face continued problems of potential tea party or conservative primary challenges for incumbent senators, a factor that helped played a big role in the Democratic success on Election Day. Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) are those most likely GOP incumbents to be targeted for primary challenges, although the rise of super PACs — and the ability for powerful donors to pour huge sums of money into one race or a series of races — makes such handicapping more difficult this early in the cycle.

Both Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Minority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) also face reelection this cycle. While both are expected to win in 2014- and will have all the financial resources they could possibly need - they could face potential primary challengers, which makes deal-making on the Senate floor harder to predict during the next Congress.

h/t: Politico

The shadowboxing between the parties over avoiding the fiscal cliff has so far been marked by Republicans introducing and passing legislation to avoid it. They’ve proposed replacing one-year’s worth of cuts to the defense department with cuts over 10 years to food stamps and other safety net program. And in short order, they’ll pass legislation extending all of the Bush tax cuts.

Faced with a filibuster, Senate Democrats have been less proactive. But a move by Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) — a member of the Democratic leadership — is intended to widen the scope of the debate, so it’s not just centered on the GOP’s pet issues.

Murray is proposing an amendment requiring the administration to report on how the automatic spending cuts set to kick in will affect all facets of government, from defense to social programs. It serves as a competitor and counterweight to a different amendment by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) that would require an Office of Management and Budget audit of looming defense cuts alone.

The Senate will vote on the McCain and Murray amendments Wednesday.

“As we continue working toward a balanced and bipartisan replacement to the automatic cuts that both Democrats and Republicans agree are bad policy, my amendment will make sure Congress understands exactly how the Administration would enact sequestration if we can’t come to a deal,” Murray said in a statement. “My amendment calls for an examination of all of the automatic cuts, not just one piece of them. Sequestration would slash across a broad swath of our federal budget — from the Pentagon, to our border security, to education funding, and to the support middle class families and the most vulnerable Americans depend on in this tough economy.”

Sequestration is the technical term for the enforcement mechanism members of Congress and the White House created during the debt limit fight to force legislators to pass a significant deficit reduction bill. So far Congress has failed to do so, and unless they do before the end of the year, scores of federal programs will face arbitrary budget cuts, starting in 2013.

Democrats insist the sequester must stand until Republicans drop their anti-tax absolutism and work with Democrats on a balanced fiscal package that includes tax increases. Republicans insist that taxes are off the table, and want to unwind the sequester and replace it with other cuts to domestic programs only — while extending all of the Bush tax cuts.

The GOP has the advantage of controlling the House and thus of being able to pass legislation to avoid the fiscal cliff. And by focusing on protecting defense and high-income tax cuts, their particular plan has powerful backers. Dems are now collecting supporters for their own approach.

[…]

The goal here is to illustrate that the entire sequester must ultimately be replaced, and not simply by imposing cuts on domestic programs. It’s also to put Republicans, de facto, on the record expressing concern for issues and interest groups outside their coalition.