IMMIGRATION BILL FAILS. Not much more to say than that. Vote on cloture was 50-45 against. This is, in my opinion, a real shame. The bill would have been bettered in the House, and I have trouble imagining any series of circumstances wherein we get any bill, much less a better one, in the next few years. The politics of immigration are tough, and you may well need a president with no interest in reelection to pursue anything so radical as a broad amnesty. As we saw tonight, sometimes even that's not enough. It's worth noting, too, that this is a huge defeat for the White House, and proof positive that they utterly lack capital in Congress. Bush's power over his party is insignificant now, and he is, as officially as can be, a lame duck. --Ezra Klein
