This is NOT dead, and I wish they would STOP saying so.
There has been no vote. The Liberals know what the vote count is, and they know they won't succeed, so Reid is holding off a vote on it.
So, it is just sitting on the sidelines, waiting for "someone" to bring it to a vote.
If the liberals are in charge and know they have the votes, they will bring it up and have it voted up or down.
If conservatives ever take charge, and they know they have the votes to defeat it, once and for all, they WILL (should) bring it to a vote.
Otherwise, it brings to mind the quote from Mammy in "Gone With The Wind":
"...You know what trouble Ah's talkin' about. I'm talkin' about Mistuh Ashley Wilkes. He'll be comin' to Atlanta when he get his leave -- and you sittin' there waitin' fo' him -- jes' like a spider..."
Oh true on some accounts...they won’t quit on this, granted, it’s in their blood. They are creatures of habit after all :)
But you forget one key thing. This might be “make or break” for LOST for quite some time. If the November elections give the GOP the majority in the Senate (especially with a fresh batch of conservative senators: Fischer, Mourdock, Cruz, Rehberg, etc.) then this treaty has a hard time getting out of committee much less a cloture vote or even a final floor vote.
Is Senator Graham (next election in 2014) willing to vote “yes” on this? What about Senator Manchin (coal producing West Virginia)? If the whip count against LOST is solid then any yes vote turns toxic. No one wants to be left dangling in the wind.