The man who could be Senate majority leader

Sen. Chuck Schumer is "a razor-elbowed, shamelessly self-serving, media-addicted political monster. He is also arguably the single most effective lawmaker of his generation," the Washington Post says today in an online profile of the New York Democrat.

Schumer also is a front-runner to become the Senate's next majority leader if Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada is ousted in November.

With Reid "hanging on to his seat by a thread, the Brooklynite is nearing the goal line of his long game," the Post says. "Succeeding Reid would make Schumer the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in American history and, more important for the uber-competitive politician, the first among peers."