There were students out today on Capitol Hill, trying to make the final push for the DREAM Act, the cloture vote for which is tomorrow. In a normal political environment, this bill would be a no-brainer.
I called the offices of Sen. Jon Tester of Montana, one of the Democratic holdouts who is reportedly planning to vote no, because I still have a lot of family ties back in Montana, including some political ties, and voiced my extreme disappointment at his betrayal. I was told the senator doesn't support "amnesty"; I answered that it's obvious the senator has swallowed the outpouring of lies about the act.
It's also obviously making the nativists nervous -- which is why they're pulling out all the stops. (See the utterly mendacious Mickey Kaus in Newsweek today, regurgitating just about every falsehood about this bill and giving it the patina of mainstream mediahood. And oh yeah -- Mickey's a liberal. Uh huh. Sure. He just never seems to find any liberal position he actually agrees with.
Anyway, keep the phone calls up. Here are the numbers:
D's fence sitting:
Claire McCaskill (MO) 202-224-615
Mary Landrieu (LA) (202) 224-5824
Kay Hagan (NC) 202-224-6342
Mark Pryor (AR) 202-224-6342
Joe Manchin (WV) (202) 224-3954
Kent Conrad (ND) (202) 224-2043
R Leaning yes:
Lisa Murkowski (AK) (202) 224-6665
D's likely voting no, who should feel pain: Tester, Baucus, Nelson
Max Baucus (MT) - (202) 224-2651
Ben Nelson (NE) - (202) 224-6551
Jon Tester (MT) - (202) 224-2644
