This is a follow-up to Armando's
great posts this morning on the filibuster. Improbable? Yeah.
Impossible? Never. Take 15 minutes out of your weekend for democracy's sake. Track the updates on the cloture count
here. Here is the latest update:
NO on cloture (announced support for a filibuster):
- Barbara Boxer (D- CA)
- Dianne Feinstein (D- CA)
- Christopher J. Dodd (D- CT)
- Richard J. Durbin (D- IL)
- John F. Kerry (D- MA)
- Edward M. Kennedy (D- MA)
- Paul S. Sarbanes (D- MD)
- Debbie A. Stabenow (D- MI)
- Harry Reid (D- NV)
- Hillary Rodham Clinton (D- NY)
- Charles Schumer (D- NY)
- Ron Wyden (D- OR)
- Russell D. Feingold (D- WI)
- Barack Obama (D-IL)
- Joe Biden (D-DE)
Robert Menendez (D-NJ) (?)(see update)
Action items below the fold:
Senators To Call:
Blanche Lambert Lincoln (D- AR), 202-224-4843
Joseph I. Lieberman (D- CT), 202-224-4041
Thomas R. Carper (D- DE), 202-224-2441
Daniel K. Inouye (D- HI), 202-224-3934
Tom Harkin (D- IA), 202-224-3254
Evan Bayh (D- IN), 202-224-5623
Barbara A. Mikulski (D- MD), 202-224-4654
Carl Levin (D- MI), 202-224-6221
Mark Dayton (D- MN), 202-224-3244
Max Baucus (D- MT), 202-224-2651
Frank Lautenberg (D- NJ), 202-224-3224
Jeff Bingaman (D- NM), 202-224-5521
Jack Reed (D- RI), 202-224-4642
Patrick J. Leahy (D- VT), 202-224-4242
Maria Cantwell (D- WA), 202-224-3441
Patty Murray (D- WA), 202-224-2621
Herb Kohl (D- WI), 202-224-5653
John D. Rockefeller, IV (D- WV), 202-224-6472
James M. Jeffords (I- VT), 202-224-5141
Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D- DE) , 202-224-5042
Bill Nelson (D- FL), 202-224-5274
Daniel K. Akaka (D- HI), 202-224-6361
Mary Landrieu (D- LA), 202-224-5824
Byron L. Dorgan (D- ND), 202-224-2551
Olympia Snowe (R- ME), 202-224-5344
The bold are those in most need of some convincing. Senators Biden, Nelson, Akaka, Landrieu, Dorgan, and Snowe have stated they would likely not support a filibuster. Not a firm stance, like Chaffee, Salazar, Pryor, and Conrad, so there is reason to keep calling them.
Some key things to keep in mind:
- Don't give up on "Yes" votes. Pressure from the blogosphere is working. We've seen that with Senator Feinstein changing her mind and voting against cloture.
- Fax. The mailboxes of many Senators are full, as are some of their inboxes. You can fax a filibuster fax to 13 Senators for free over at SaveTheCourt.org.. Their form targets the following Senators: Barack Obama, Christopher Dodd, Joseph Lieberman, Joseph Biden, Richard Durbin, Evan Bayh, Olympia Snowe, Harry Reid, Charles Schumer, Hillary Clinton, Lincoln Chafee and Russell Feingold. Fax numbers for all senators will be listed in the comments.
- Do They Want A President Or A King?: This should be the talking point, for Judge Alito has made it clear the Presidency has no one to answer to but itself. A vote for Alito is a vote for a man who believes the President can thumb his nose at Congress and at our precious system of checks and balances.
- The American People Oppose Alito.: 56% of Americans say Alito should NOT be confirmed if he will overturn Roe. Alito refused to call Roe "well-settled" law, and has throughout his lifetime taken the legal position that Roe should be eroded and overruled.
Let our Senators know that a vote for cloture is a vote which silences the will of the American people. And let's see if we can pull off a little weekend miracle...
Update [2006-1-28 14:26:49 by georgia10]::
- 1-888-355-3588 is the toll-free number for the Capitol Switchboard. Fax numbers for all senators are here. Email addresses can be found here.
You can send a free fax through your browser. Try this site and this site.
- If the D.C. mailbox is full, try their local office.
Update [2006-1-28 15:47:24 by georgia10]:: Although numerous people have told me Obama is a no on cloture, there seems to be some confusion. So he's off the list until I confirm with a
definite source.
Update [2006-1-28 18:8:20 by georgia10]:: It appears the free fax pages have been overloaded or have some other problem. I'll keep looking for another site you can use.
Update [2006-1-28 18:22:48 by georgia10]:: There were multiple people who said they called Menendez's office and confirmed he was FOR a filibuster. However, in Kennedy's conference call, he named Menendez in the list of senators to pressure. I'd err on the side of caution and say to keep calling Menendez,
202-224-4744.
Update [2006-1-29 13:4:29 by georgia10]:: Obama will vote against cloture, as will Joe Biden as announced on the Sunday news shows (I've updated the roster up top). Durbin says he has 37 votes.