Democrats, who met this week at the Lansdowne Resort outside Leesburg, emerged from their meetings convinced that even though they have the least political leverage of any political group in Congress, the national conversation is shifting in their direction."

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"The other reason for House Democrats’ high spirits? An understanding that the Republican majority needs them. House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) has time and again relied on the votes of Democrats to help move must-pass legislation when a bloc of 50 or more of his own conservative members has refused to go along.

Without Democrats, the fiscal-cliff bill would not have been adopted. Nor would a bill to provide billions in aid to victims of Hurricane Sandy that had threatened to become a massive public-relations problem for the national Republican Party. When Democrats refused to go along with Boehner’s proposed solution to the fiscal cliff in December — which would have allowed taxes to increase only on income over $1 million a year — the plan collapsed in an embarrassing failure because of Boehner’s inability to get a majority of 218 votes from his own members.

Even a measure adopted last month to suspend the nation’s debt ceiling for three months — an idea advanced by Republican leaders and which enjoyed broad support within the party — still drew 33 Republican “no” votes and would have fallen short without Democratic support.

“There’s broadening recognition that without us, nothing’s going to get passed,” said Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (D-Va.). “That flies in the face of conventional wisdom about minorities in the House.”

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