MR. SCHUMER GOES TO WASHINGTON:

Senate doctors hours (Robert Novak, February 8, 2003, Townhall.com)

Newly installed Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, accustomed to working odd hours as a physician, may force Democrats to actually filibuster if they intend to prevent a confirmation on judicial nominee Miguel Estrada. In recent years, the mere threat of a filibuster has been sufficient to block action unless 60 senators voted cloture. Frist may consider "doctors hours" for the Senate, imposing around-the-clock sessions to force a vote on Estrada's selection for the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. Estrada, a 41-year-old conservative lawyer, is a prospective Supreme Court justice if he first serves on the appellate bench. Republicans see only five (out of 49) Democratic senators backing Estrada, so the 60 senators needed for cloture seem unattainable. The closest to a real filibuster the Senate has come since the 1960s was three days of talk against a 1982 highway funding bill, after which cloture was voted.

The more circus-like the atmosphere the GOP creates around this filibuster, the more attention it gets, the more it hurts Democrats among Latino voters. Make them keep it going and keep in the Senate in session 24-7-365. Posted by Orrin Judd at February 8, 2003 5:36 AM