As you know, the attempt to break the filibuster on the DREAM Act failed just before the successful vote on DADT. There’s an interesting little tell though in the numbers. Three Republicans voted to end the filibuster — Lugar, Murkowski and Bennett. What’s revealing there is that there’s not really a clear ideological pattern to those four. The pattern is that they’re Republicans who for various reasons don’t have to face GOP voters anymore. Bennett got defenestrated earlier this year. Murkowski just won as a write-in. The exception is Lugar, who is up for reelection in 2012. He’s been a permanent fixture of Indiana politics. But that was in the pre-Tea Party era.
(ed.note: This post originally and incorrectly reported that Sen. Bond had voted for cloture.)
