Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) believes Senate Democrats and the White House might not have the votes to repeal the Bush era tax cuts for the wealthiest two percent of Americans.

McConnell — who has stated repeatedly that raising taxes in a recession will be destructive — said Thursday that three Democrats have expressed reservations about the repeal before recess and the question now is whether more Democrats will jump ship. President Barack Obama has called for an extension of nearly all the 2001 income tax cuts, but wants to roll back those cuts for households making more than $250,000.

McConnell pointed to Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) and Sens. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) and Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) as three members across the aisle who have expressed reservations about letting upper income taxes increase."We know there were at least three Democrats who thought this was a bad idea," McConnell said on ABC News's Top Line web cast. "Will there be a larger group of Democrats who come back and think maybe this isn't a great debate for us?"

As recently as Wednesday, a top Democratic aide asked POLITICO, "[I'm] not sure what Ben Nelson has to do with it — we need Republicans and they're not giving us anything these days."

"This is a debate about tax increases. The current level of taxation has been there for almost a decade," McConnell said. "That's a debate we're anxious to have."

McConnell touted the Republican belief that a tax increase on upper income Americans — and small businesses — would continue to hamper economic growth.

"This administration has done a lot to discourage business from growing and hiring, and that's the problem."

But McConnell seemed to revel in the idea that the current state of affairs — both economically and politically — could lead to big wins for his party in November.

"I am going to be a leader of a larger group and I don't view that as a problem," McConnell said.