Thursday, June 28, 2007

John Hawkins has a roundup of backroom maneuvers for this immigration bill from his GOP source. On Graham:
He told me that he thinks Lindsey Graham is just running scared at this point. He's up for re-election in 2008, his poll numbers are plunging, and talk radio and the conservative blogs are mercilessly beating him up every day. So, he's looking for some kind of fig leaf to use as protection. He added that unfortunately for Graham, the touchback provision probably wouldn't cut it. For the most part, the base isn't impressed with it, and most of the people who support that provision are already inclined to support amnesty anyway.

On Jim Webb (e.a.):

From there, he noted that James Webb has told multiple senators that he voted in favor of the first cloture vote because he had his arm twisted, but he didn't like how he was treated, and had no intention of voting for the second one. Still, he said don't count Webb as a definite vote against cloture because he might get his arm twisted again.