Senate votes against arctic drilling MSNBC STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS By a 52-to-48 vote, the Senate on Wednesday defeated an attempt to open part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. With war looming in Iraq, proponents of drilling, most of them Republicans, had focused on energy security as they tried to lift a congressional ban on drilling in the refuge. IN THE END, lobbying by White House officials was unable to persuade two key Republicans, Sen. Norm Coleman of Minnesota and Sen. Gordon Smith of Oregon, to support drilling on in the coastal plain of the Arctic...