So, according to the official House and Senate websites, here's how the final FISA votes turned out:
House: 128 Dems voted against it + 3 didn't vote at all (I'm giving the 3 non-voting members the benefit of the doubt, assuming they were sick, attending a funeral, whatever) = 131 (plus a single Republican, a Timothy Johnson of Illinois, bravo for him)
Senate: 41 Dems voted for the Bingaman Amendment + Ted Kennedy couldn't make the vote for obvious reasons = 42 (plus Arlen Specter, of course)
Now, our ideal state for Congress would be to have a 2/3 majority of Progressive Democrats with Spine and a Conscience in each chamber: 290 in the House, 67 in the Senate.
Officially, we have 236 Democrats in the House and 50 in the Senate (and no, I'm not including Lieberman anymore).
Of these, until this FISA vote, while we've known that a certain number of these were in Blue Dog/DINO territory, that number has always been rather vague. Today--barring any dramatic last-minute position changes in the vote on the actual, final FISA bill--we have a much clearer idea of where we really stand:
131 in the House and 42 in the Senate.
What does this mean? This means that the true goal is not just to add 54 Dems to the House and 10 in the Senate, but a wee bit steeper: 159 more PDw/SC (Progressive Dems with a Spine and a Conscience) and 25 more in the Senate.
Rather a tough nut to crack, but at least we know where we are now.
I'd also say we just learned exactly why Congress as a whole now has a whopping 9% approval rating.
UPDATE: Just to clarify, this does NOT lessen my support of Obama for President, nor does it mean that I'm rooting for any of the DINOs to get beaten in the General. It DOES, however, make the "MORE AND BETTER DEMS" mantra that much more important of a goal, that's my only point here.