Senate Freshmen

NPR's Elizabeth Arnold reports that the Senate today elected its new leaders and held an orientation session for 16 new members elected last month. While Republicans will hold a 55-45 majority in the next Senate — two more seats than they had held — newly elected leaders say they want to work in a more bipartisan manner. This could be difficult, however, since many of the newer members are more conservative than those they replaced... and divisions over campaign finance reform emerged almost immediately.