State Senate's 30-29 vote against DREAM Act is hardly a 'fatal blow' for bill to grant state tuition aid to undocumented immigrants

I would call them the legion of gloom and doom, but that would greatly exaggerate their numbers and significance.

I am talking about the people trying to sell the idea that Monday’s state Senate vote on the DREAM Act — 30 in favor, 29 opposed — was somehow a “near-fatal blow” or an “enormous setback” because the bill, which would grant state tuition aid to undocumented immigrants, fell two votes short of passing.

That prognosis is entirely blind to political reality or is the product of wishful thinking.

The conventional wisdom back in the summer, when planning for the current legislative session began, was that election-year dynamics would keep the DREAM Act from making any kind of progress during the 2014 legislative session.

What nobody saw coming back then was the wave of progressive zeal that would be ushered in by the election of Mayor de Blasio.