These days, on the subject of his own influence, Senator Chuck Schumer is unusually demure.

"I'm not going to assess my influence,"� Mr. Schumer told The Observer at his weekly Sunday press conference. "I'm working hard on a whole lot of different things. God blessed me with a lot of energy and I try to expend it for the public good."�

Other officials in New York and Washington are considerably less reserved on the topic.

"I think he's the future majority leader,"� said Representative Eliot Engel of New York, in response to a general question about Mr. Schumer's influence. "I do."�

There is a reason for this. Mr. Schumer has a good thing going, and he doesn't want to...