failure, senator dick durbin on what he sees as simple math. >> i can count, and i know you can, too. we have 59 democrats and not a single republican in the senate supports our position that we need to do something that's responsible to reduce our deficit but also to help middle income families bring us out of this recession. >> why will that be different after the election? >> well, i hope it will be different. occasionally one republican will break ranks and help us. what it gets down to, we can count, and we know we don't have 60 votes for our tax position. we want to basically say after the election when we still face a deadline by the end of the year we'll take up all these tax issues. >> however, immediately after the election, the terms of three appointed senators expire from the states of illinois, west virginia, and delaware. if republicans win any of those seats and are seated immediately as expected, the republican filibuster would be harder to overcome. and there is another issue democrats might want to come to grips the popularity of their health care reform law.