I think your right....Frist didn't have the votes and was bluffing.
I think that Frist had the votes, but McNutty worked a few over.
seeing as 7 pubs showed up at that Conference I think at best Frist wasn't sure if he had the votes at worst, he knew he didn't have them.
Now we know who to defeat in primaries.
More importantly Brown, Owen, and Pryor will now be confirmed. If Frist didn't have the votes, this was a good bluff.