The first glimpse of what Hillary will do to downticket races comes to us from Arkansas.  The state in which Hillary was the first lady for 12 years.   She and her husband were in power there for a long, long time.

Conservative Democratic Senator Mark Pryor is up for re-election in 2008 and will likely refuse to endorse anyone.  He endorsed Lieberman in 2006 and has views closer to Hillary than any other candidate in the race but still will not endorse her.

http://electioncentral.tpmcafe.com/blog/ electioncentral/2007/mar/28/hillary_work s_to_win_support_in_former_home_state_of _arkansas

Hillary was first lady of Arkansas for 12 years -- but does that guarantee that she'll have the support of the state's Congressional delegation and other prominent pols?...
Arkansas Senator Mark Pryor, who's up for reelection in 2008, may sit out the Presidential race altogether. "I'm just for everybody," he says.

Funny when Lamont was up against Lieberman in the general he chose sides.

Looks like the Cochran amendment was defeated and the withdrawal language stays in the bill, for now. That's a big deal.

My earlier cynicism notwithstanding, kudos to Harry Reid, Dick Durbin, and the Senate leadership!  I'm told that we lost Pryor, held Nelson, and gained Smith and Hagel. I'll update as soon as I confirm.

Update (Chris): The vote is up on the Senate Roll Call page now, so it is confirmed. Senator Feingold, the first Senator to come out in favor of a timetable, and who once again has turned a majority of one into a voting majority in the Senate, just issued the following statement:

Today marks an important step toward ending the war in Iraq . For the first time, the U.S. Senate will pass binding legislation requiring the President to begin withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq . While this is long overdue, it is a big step in the right direction and it brings us closer to ending our involvement in this disastrous war.

The only Democrat who voted to strike the withdrawal language was Mark Pryor. I don't care what state he is from--that is the sort of issue that could cause you to lose either a primary or a general election. There isn't a state in the country that currently has a majority in favor of the war, or against this bill. Even moderate Republicans are split.

A Kossack piece leads me to an illuminating Senate vote on Wednesday.

At issue was an amendment to HR 4954 the SAFE Ports Act containing the text of S 3875, the Real Security Act.

S 3875 contains the Dem leadership's proposals for dealing with homeland security, Iraq and related matters, and the amendment was offered by Harry Reid.

The House of Representatives was busy yesterday engaging in vicious class warfare against working families.

It's late - but this is just too classic to miss.

According to the Post Wednesday, a deal is in prospect for an almost-but-not-quite repeal of the estate tax.

That failed cloture vote (follow the HR 8 tag) persuaded GOP House zealots to cash in their chips.

Focus on the Family will air advertisements in 13 states in an attempt to pressure Senators who have opposed or have expressed opposition to the federal Marriage Protection Amendment.  Here is Focus on the Family's list of advertisements and the Senators they plan to target:

The first of two juicy tax bills is heading to the Oval Office.

In the event, the GOP passed the bill without the need to call any of the Dem usual suspects off the bench.

But they came anyway!

A couple of days ago, I noted the strange business of the Office of Public Integrity.

Lieberman and Collins put forward an amendment to establish such an office, independent of Congress members, to supervise the handling of complaints about Congressional ethics breaches. And the Senate committee voted 11-5 against (all members voting).

And, among the 11 against were at least three Democrats.