[JAWs]

In a sense he did. If the GOP discipline held, it'd be a massive humiliation and all the judges would have gone through. At least he has a PR victory.

[kristinn]

Yep. Now they're arguing about who gets to speak on the Senate floor to crow about their deal. Sen. Allard is getting the shaft. He was scheduled to speak now.

[goldstategop]

Yes... and the Democrats were desperate to avert a total wipeout. That's why they kept offering deals. If they thought they had the vote in hand, they would kept obstructing a vote on those three Bush judicial candidates. When push came to shove, it was a political calculation on the part of the Democrats to keep their powder dry for the inevitable Supreme Court battles. If the rule went, they'd have none left, would they? Its over for them as far as this phase of the battle goes and it shows as a minority party, they had their backs to the wall.

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)