Thursday, June 14, 2007

Interesting NYT story about lobbying for bill. Two salient paragraphs:

The Republicans he [Pres. Bush] will likely be targeting include Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss, both of Georgia, who were closely involved in drafting the deal but have yet to fully commit, and perhaps John Ensign of Nevada and John Cornyn of Texas, who are undecided.

and

Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill., said he doesn’t expect much movement from the 11 Democrats and one independent, Bernard Sanders of Vermont, who voted against the decisive third cloture motion. Even Durbin has reservations, saying he voted to end debate “purely for process reasons.”


Based on this story, it seems wise to keep the Georgians in "toss up" category; maybe make the 11 D's and 1 I who voted against cloture a little less likely to switch--just a little (assuming Durbin isn't merely lowering expectations).