While many news stories have emphasized possible Republican defections from the president's policy in Iraq, a Hill story brings out a potential dissenter from the Democratic caucus (and its seeming support of a forced-deadline withdrawal)--Sen. Pryor (D-AR).

Pryor’s matchmaking set up an alliance between Salazar, an ally of Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), and Alexander, a confidant of Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), that upended both parties’ Iraq messages. Both leaders are eager to define opponents by their support for withdrawal schedules, but Pryor believes they are missing the mark.

“What I think is better about this approach than what’s going on the floor is the [Iraq Study Group] bill was never designed to just be a timetable,” Pryor said. “A timetable, in my view — and I hate to say this, and I don’t mean to say this in a negative way against my colleagues — is an over-simplistic approach to a very complicated problem.” [e.a.]

In March, according to The Hill, Pryor was the only Democrat to vote against a measure setting a binding timetable for withdrawal from Iraq. For his part, Reid still sounds skeptical about the Pryor-Salazar-Alexander amendment urging the implementation of the Iraq Study Group's recommendations, and it's unknown whether the measure will get a vote.