Levin still undecided.

[knitter4democracy]

I just talked with a staffer for Sen. Levin (my senator), and apparently he's still undecided. He's definitely voting no on Alito, and he's considering voting against cloture, but he's undecided on a filibuster.

The staffer was very nice and gave a hint that the Dems in the Senate have a couple of main reasons for not wanting a filibuster. First of all, there's good evidence that it will fizzle and not work, which means that they'll have used their political power for "nothing" (I disagree with that, but I can understand why they'd think that way). Secondly, they are angry that this whole mess is taking time away from dealing with the corruption scandals and the wiretapping scandal. They're worried that standing here and fighting is actually going to lose us voters and possibly seats in Congress with the media being confusing and obviously against the Dems.

He also pointed out that New York Times article from last week saying how the meeting went and then Kerry sending out a mass e-mail to everyone for the filibuster without getting all the Dems on board beforehand might have made some of the senators less likely to vote for it. He didn't know if that was a factor in Sen. Levin's thinking at all, not having talked with him about it, but he did say that it would make sense as to why the senators aren't lining up behind Kerry.

Honestly, I don't think more calls will help with this. It sounds like Sen. Levin needs to do some thinking and talking with other Senators to make his decision.

[The Stranger]

1. If he isn't with us now, we will not be w/ him during reelection/PRIMARIES

Tell them that when you call them.

[wookie294]

2. LOL

I'm starting to be embarrassed for voting Dem.

Undecided? LMFAO!

[Mass]

4. We may tell Levin that if he votes against cloture, he will vote for a

filibuster.

Other point: So the Senate Democrats are afraid of the grassroots?

The good news for him is that I dont live in MI. He certainly would have lost my vote reasonning like that.

[knitter4democracy]

11. Levin's wilely, though.

He's survived a lot of crap and keeps on fighting, but he picks his battles. I haven't always like him or trusted him, but I do since 2000 when he came out and tried to get our soldiers more of what they need and tried to at least support the troops properly. He was for the war, but everyone who'd been a part of the DC establishment for that long was.

It was more like they were mad the grassroots were mobilized before anyone had agreed on anything or planned it out. They were offended (maybe not Levin, but some were, apparently) that Kerry just jumped into this without working the senators or doing it "properly." They're mad that they've got staffers manning phones over this and not corruption or spying.

He's still thinking over the cloture vote, apparently. That's what I understood the staffer to mean.

[Mass]

14. I am sure some were - Happy that my senators took the lead on that

as others clearly did not want to.

I like Levin and it is possible it is the staffer's opinion who is reflected here,but if it is his, I would be really disappointed. As for working the senators, it was reported by the NYTimes that Kerry, Kennedy, and Durbin had tried during the caucus lunch on Wednesday to do so (which is the reason why their call came so late), but did not succeed in getting senators to agree in a common effort, so they decided to do it themselves.

[SharonRB]

5. I certainly hope that at the very least he abstains

from voting for cloture. A non-vote is the same as a vote against cloture. It's not we who need 41 votes -- they need to get 60 votes for cloture. If they don't get 60, it's over.

[debbierlus]

6. Called and got through way to easy CALL CALL CALL

[SharonRB]

8. I had a hard time getting through to him on Friday and had to

call his Warren office.

[knitter4democracy]

12. I always call the state offices.

Easier to get through to.

[AndyTiedye]

7. They Can Talk About the Corruption Scandals At Great Length...

...while they are filibustering.

They are among the many reasons for rejecting this nominee.

[gkhouston]

10. and they can also talk about wiretapping

heck, they can give out recipes for lemon meringue pie, if they want. Given all the problems this administration has, I'd be tempted to vote for a filibuster just to have a platform to stand there and list its deficiencies for the Congressional Record. :-)

[knitter4democracy]

13. Maybe that's why he's on the fence.

If the filibuster happens, then it gives them a great opportunity to list all the laws broken and lies told. On the other hand, if it doesn't, then they could lose the filibuster entirely with Frist's nuclear option scenario.

[gkhouston]

3. the R's could invoke the nuclear option at any time, with no provocation

Whether the filibuster succeeds or fails, Frist may try the nuclear option, but that's something the R's could have done at any point in the past and they haven't attempted it yet. I'm not sure Frist has the votes -- a lot of Republican senators might not be comfortable with using the nuclear option -- and if he loses the vote on the nuclear option, he will lose a lot of credibility. The general public expects Kerry to lose this battle and the R's to win so in a weird way the battle is the R's to lose. Frist has had something of a tin ear in the way he's handled the Senate in the past year, so there's no telling how this is going to play out.

[knitter4democracy]

15. I don't even know why they'd try it.

Surely they understand that times change and they won't be in power forever. They historically use the filibuster more than Dems, so why would they want to give it up? It's just odd.

[EFerrari]

9. Call. The fillibuster gives Dems air time to TALK ABOUT

the scandals.

And power isn't power if it's never used.

[Freddie Stubbs]

16. I seriously doubt that there are any undecided Senators at this point

Just Senators who have not yet announced their position.