The Holdout Was Sen. Voinovich

The one Senator not voting either way on the cloture motion, as I have learned, was Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH). I'm not sure if Sen. Voinovich simply had to be absent tonight or whether his not casting a vote is any sort of political statement. I suspect the former, but don't rule out the later, as Sen. Voinovich is retiring and has been critical of fellow members of the GOP caucus for being overly partisan and obstructionist. Still, on such a critical party-line vote, it is hard to imagine he failed to show up to mark a protest. Surely he would have just voted for cloture if that had been the case.

It is irrelevant as 60 votes were required either way and the 60 of the Democratic caucus were exactly what Senator Harry Reid was able to string together.

Whether he can hold on to those 60 in the coming weeks and secure cloture on the final bill remains to be seen. But we WILL have a debate in the Senate, that's for sure.

Prepare for some more high drama in December. Have a good night.