Eric Wasson and Bernie Becker, The Hill, last night and updated this morning.

Democratic and Republican leaders in the Senate on Tuesday sought to distance themselves from deficit talks being held by a small, bipartisan group of lawmakers [Gang of Eight]. 

The swift pushback, delivered by aides, came after The New York Times reported in a front-page, above-the-fold story that Senate leaders were closing in on a deal to avert the so-called “fiscal cliff.” 

The leaders’ move to keep those discussions at arm’s length underscores the difficulty of reaching a bipartisan agreement on taxes and reducing the deficit.

............

Lawmakers and aides say that real negotiations on how to deal with the fiscal cliff can’t begin until after voters decide who will control the White House and Congress next year.

Gang of Eight members, for instance, have said that a win by GOP nominee Mitt Romney would sink their lame-duck ambitions. Romney indicated earlier this year that if he wins, he does not want Obama and Congress to make major decisions before he is sworn in to office. 

.......

One senior Democratic aide said “nothing has buy-in from leaders at this point except to support the idea of people continuing to talk.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has said he wants a “big” deal in the upcoming lame-duck session that would put a multitrillion-dollar dent in the national debt.

But Reid also signed a letter last month with other Democrats that opposed using Social Security cuts in any debt deal. Meanwhile, Bowles-Simpson, the proposed Gang of Eight fallback, calls for cuts in Social Security benefits, and reins in other entitlement spending as well. 

Reid disparaged the work of the gang of lawmakers last November, dismissing it as “happy talk” that had not been put into legislative language.

...........

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Conrad and Sens. Mark Warner (D-Va.), Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) made up the original Gang of Six. Sens. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.) and Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) have bumped the Gang’s numbers up to eight.

The negotiating group has not expanded any further, sources said, although a wider group of centrists keeps tabs on their activities. This group includes defense hawks worried about the sequester, including Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.).

....................

Meanwhile, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) has been preparing for the post-election deficit debate by trying to develop plans of attack under different electoral scenarios.

Baucus meets regularly with officials like House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, and has gotten together recently with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Christine Lagarde, the head of the International Monetary Fund. 

Aides say they believe lawmakers will be able to hit the ground running come November, given the amount of deficit discussions that have occurred in recent years.

...................