Monday, June 20, 2005

Games Lawyer-Senators Play (party disloyalty)

WASHINGTON (AP) - reported By LIZ SIDOTI "I think it's time for the Senate to give him an up-or-down vote. Now," the president said. Bush has said Bolton, with a history of blunt talk and skepticism about the U.N.'s power, would lead an effort to overhaul the world body's bureaucracy and make it more accountable. Even before the vote, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (JD -George Washington School of Law, 1064), D-Nev., predicted the Senate would block the nomination again _ leaving Bush in a ticklish situation.

The vote was 54-38, six shy of the total needed to force a final vote on Bolton, and represented an erosion in support from last month's failed Republican effort. Sen. George Voinovich (JD -Ohio State University, 1961), R-Ohio, who voted in May to advance the nomination, switched positions. Like the vote in May, Sens. Mark Pryor of Arkansas (J.D. -University of Arkansas, 1988), Ben Nelson of Nebraska (JD -University of Nebraska, 1970) and Mary Landrieu (BA -Louisiana State University, 1977) of Louisiana were the only Democrats to support the move to have an immediate final vote.