Posted on 01/13/2006 1:19:25 PM PST by boryeulb
Sen. Dick Durbin (D.-Ill.) made news Thursday when he told the Associated Press he didn't know if Democrats had the numbers to sustain a filibuster of Samuel Alito confirmation.
"When you consider the numbers involved, it is unlikely," Durbin said.
But how unlikely is it really? You can cast your vote in today's AlitoBlog.com poll.
At least one moderate Democrat, Sen. Bill Nelson (D.-Fla.), and at least one Republican, Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R.-R.I.), said publicly Thursday they had not yet made up their minds on Alito. In Nelson's case, he'll decide after meeting with Alito. Chafee simply remains unsure how he'll vote.
Meanwhile, no Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee have indicted they would vote for Alito. A united Democratic caucus would give the party enough votes (41) to launch a filibuster of Alito -- but no one, even Durbin, believes the party will be united in opposition.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R.-Iowa), who spoke to bloggers Wednesday, said senators from Arkansas (Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor), Nebraska (Ben Nelson), North Dakota (Byron Dorgan and Kent Conrad) and Florida (Bill Nelson) are most likely to vote for Alito. Sen. Russ Feingold (Wis.) was the only Democrat on the Judiciary Committee who Grassley predicted might vote for Alito.
Even if Democrats don't launch a filibuster, there are still delaying tactics they can employee. Majority Leader Bill Frist (R.-Tenn.) said Tuesday on Bloggers' Row that he wants Democrats to abandon those thoughts.
Take our poll now.
I was gonna vote in the poll, but I decided not to because there wasn't a check box for "I HOPE SO".
ditto
Oh PLEASE DO! The Gop Nation will rip the SH*T out of the Dems!
The Seanators who will vote for Alito and/or against a Filibuster need to get on the record with their vote. If 60 people say yeah, the dems won't even bother.
I don't think they have the cajones..........
Yep....no reason to freep this poll....
I wish there were more choices.
Not unless they want to hurt themselves. But Democrats do...like to hurt themselves and be hurt.
DUers have been calling all day long trying to get them to filibuster Alito. Don't know if its working or not. Heard also that Daily KOS is going to send some idiots out to protest. BOOOORING!!
LOL! Exactly my thoughts. Which way should we vote then?
What you said.
What you said.
This article suggests Russ Feingold might vote for Alito, without distinguishing if that means, votes him out of committee, or votes for him on the Senate floor.
Russ Feingold honest to goodness thinks he has a shot at the presidency. If he votes for Alito either time, you will know he's been reading the polls which show a majority of Americans think Alito should be confirmed.
Ben Nelson is the only Dim on this list who has said he is leaning toward supporting Alito. Bill Nelson will not vote for him, and neither will Feingold. Feingold's already infuriated the far left by voting for John Roberts in committee and on the Senate floor, and he can't alienate them again and expect to have a shot at the 2008 presidential nomination. Bill Nelson will only do what Harry Reid, Hillary Clinton and the other Dim leaders tell him to do, and right now he's comfortably ahead in the Florida Senate race (ugh!).
I don't know about the rest of the Dims listed here, but right now I'm inclined to believe that Harry Reid will make the Alito vote into a party loyalty test, with dire consequences for anyone who breaks ranks. As far as Chafee's concerned, he's a lost cause, as is most likely Susan Collins (Snowe has actually come out and said she would oppose a Dim filibuster). Frist and the White House shouldn't even spend a second lobbying them for their votes.
DU has it posted that the vote for Alito is 68-32 in favor of. They're done.
Oh they know it he will be confirmed. They have been crying all day long about it. The funny thing is a few of them wrote e-mails to their Senators and got some replies back that they didn't like.
Bingo!
There are reports that the delay is to give time for the haters,anti Alito, crowd to air their ads on cable stations to influence the moderate senators.
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