By host Tom Ashbrook:

The Democrats are on their way. The new majority in the House and Senate is cranking up, choosing leaders, naming committee chairs, grabbing prime office space on Capitol Hill.

Come next January 4th, when the 110th Congress convenes, Democrats will hold the gavel. And what will they do with it? On ethics and spending and jobs and war?

This hour On Point: we hear from two freshman Democratic senators headed in: Claire McCaskill of Missouri and Sherrod Brown of Ohio. And we’ll talk with political analyst Tom Edsall about the challenge Democrats face in corralling their liberal and moderate instincts.

Guests:

Claire McCaskill, Democratic Senator-elect and state auditor from Missouri;
Sherrod Brown, Democratic Senator-elect and Congressman from Ohio
Tom Edsall, Columbia University journalism professor, contributor to the New Republic and the National Journal;
Jack Beatty, On Point senior news analyst and senior editor at the Atlantic Monthly