Senate Democrats stand strong:Republicans on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday scrubbed a planned vote on President George W. Bush's bid to keep John Bolton as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Committee Chairman Richard Lugar, an Indiana Republican, did not explain why the vote on whether to send Bolton's nomination to the full Senate was removed from the day's agenda and did not say if or when it would be taken up again.

Given Democratic opposition to Bolton's nomination, all Republicans on the committee would have to back him in order to send his name to the Senate with a full endorsement. Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, who is locked in a tight re-election bid, has not publicly said how he would vote. I just received word over email that the nomination has been pulled (although maybe that is the same thing as the vote being cancelled--I'm not sure). This follows reports that Senate Democrats had enough votes to filibuster a floor vote:With some colleagues, I have completed a real whip list, and the Republican leadership and the White House are wrong again this year. Based on conversations with individual Senators and their aides, I can say confidently that they don't have the votes.

Republicans need 60 Senators to win a cloture motion and end debate. Without tipping my hand completely, I can say that the Republican leadership has 53 votes it can count on, and another 4 who are leaning in its direction but uncertain. On a sunny day, that makes 57. Even if they capture the 2 truly undecided votes, that still leaves them a vote short of the 60 they need. It's simply not going to happen.

Democrats need to wake up and realize they have the votes to defeat the Bolton nomination. They've been lulled to sleep by the August recess and psyched out by the Republicans' phony show of confidence in Bolton's confirmation chances. After the 2006 elections, Bush will still be President and Democrats probably will not control the Senate. I imagine w can expect more of these nonsense attempts to confirm Bolton, but the Senate will be more Democratic, which makes the odds of said confirmation even lower than before. Whatever happens though, Bolton's authority at the UN will continue to be undermined, which in turn undermines the neo-con agenda. This is a nice victory for Democrats, and before long I hope we can start celebrating much bigger victories than this.