Schumer knows when to shut up

Charles Hurt - Inside Washington

WASHINGTON -- Has anyone seen our senator?

No, not the blond one strutting through the pages of Vogue magazine this week in glamorous high-collar get-ups.

The other one. The notably unglamorous one who during normal times is about as obscure as a yellow taxi cab and quiet as a subway train.

His name is Charles Ellis Schumer, the senior senator from New York.

He's always been a one-man political infestation on par with the bedbugs.

He is happiest burrowing deep inside our lives to solve all our problems.

Can't reach the remote to turn down TV commercials that come on too loud for your comfort?

Well, Schumer fathered the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation -- or CALM -- Act to combat this very problem.

But for months now, Schumer has gone missing.

Sure, he quietly pops up every now and then on the campaign trail, but no longer is he the ever-present national spokesman for Democrats.

He quit doing that right at the moment when the popularity levels of Democrats in Congress reached the throat of the toilet.

Even after years of wind sprints to cameras and microphones, Chuck Schumer, it turns out, really does know when to shut up.

Whatever you think of Schumer's politics, you have to admire his political shrewdness and his innate ability to feel the mood of voters.

He knows that the only sure way for a Democrat to survive this year's elections is to simply disappear.

But, rest assured, he'll be back and more powerful than ever.