All night debate on Iraq

So, the US Senate voted last night on a Motion to Invoke Cloture on the Levin Amdt. No. 2087. The motion was rejected, if you want to see how everyone voted, click here.

One thing I found interesting is that Senator Tim Johnson(Dem) of South Dakota did not vote. I was especially surprised at this after I read his comments on the all night debate. You can click here to get to his newsroom page and then click on the links titled, Johnson Comments on All Night Session on Iraq.

One of his comments includes, "It is time to enact the diplomacy portion of the report." He is referring to the Iraqi Study Group report which outlined 79 different suggestions on how to handle the situation. This comment and others throughout his statements seem to suggest that he may have voted "yea", if he had voted.

I wrote an email to this Senator and will post any response I may receive. I wonder if his constituents reading his statements realize that he did not even vote, maybe he has a good excuse. However, the urgency he expresses in his statements is not reflected at all by his lack of urgency to vote on the motion.