(key players) In a Polarized Senate, A Victory for the Middle

[rodeodance]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/24/AR2005052401429.html?referrer=email

In a Polarized Senate, A Victory for the Middle


By Shailagh Murray
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 25, 2005; A13



Sen. Mark Pryor's eureka moment in the filibuster showdown came on Wednesday, March 9, during a Lamar Alexander speech on the Senate floor about judicial nominations.

The Tennessee Republican described what struck Pryor, a freshman Democrat from Arkansas, as a reasonable approach to dealing with federal court nominees: He would vote against individuals he found "extreme" but would not filibuster anyone. Alexander noted that "if a few other senators of both parties would individually make this same pledge, then there would be an end to this discussion of the so-called nuclear option."

That got Pryor thinking. If six to eight like-minded senators from both parties were to band together, they could effectively force a compromise that would end most Democratic filibusters without Republicans resorting to the "nuclear option" of changing a hallowed Senate rule. Pryor's next move? "I called my dad," former senator David H. Pryor. "Ooh, that's a hot potato," the veteran Democrat warned his son.

Pryor pressed ahead, and on Monday evening he stood beaming before a packed news conference to announce that, after a week of chronic doubts and barely controlled chaos, a bipartisan group much like the one he imagined had forged an agreement that would break an impasse over some of President Bush's judicial nominees while preserving the minority's right to filibuster at least for now...........

[Placebo]

1. Good news for Mark Pryor..

I suppose. This might help him in the future when he seeks higher office? The Governorship maybe? Presidential run?

Who can say? The Democratic Party has a good track record when it comes to Arkansas Democrats, though. :)

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

2. Uh, no..it's a victory for the right since the middle is still pretty

RW

[Robbien]

4. The middle is pro-corporate, the right is pro-religious crazies

and the looney left is for middle America.

[Kagemusha]

3. So to him conscience is voting in a losing cause

and ensuring that judges he finds "extreme" are approved by the Senate and appointed for life.

Yeah, well, if that's the importance he assigns the issue... personal, not national importance...