So let's run through a little arithmetic. Mukasey went through last night by a vote of 53-40. Forty, of course, is a pretty significant number in terms of sustaining a filibuster. So who were the Dems who didn't show up? Were they likely 'no' on Mukasey votes? I would say so: Biden, Clinton, Dodd and Obama. The presidentials. It's true that many people will vote 'no' on a floor vote who won't vote the same way to sustain a filibuster. And in the best of all worlds I don't think we should be operating in a world where the need to get to 60 votes is the norm rather than the exception. But the Republicans are not letting anything through without 60 votes in the Congress. So I find it very odd how this went down.

I stick with what I suggested the last couple days. This could have been blocked. Had one of the presidentials -- say, Dodd -- announced that he would have forced a cloture vote, the others would have scurried to catch up.