Will Lieberman support John Kerry's attempt at a filibuster

John Kerry is presently trying to gather the 41 members he needs to force a filibuster on Alito's nomination.

Will Lieberman add his support? It's easy to vote against a nominee like Alito (who's confirmation is certain because Republicans control the senate). A no vote for Lieberman in that scenario is a win-win situation. It won't upset his conservative base because Alito would be confirmed regardless on the vote and Democrats could not accuse Lieberman as a traitor to the pro-choice crowd.

Supporting a filibuster is a whole different matter.

This is the worse case scenario for Lieberman because he will be under extreme pressure to support the filibuster by the pro-choice Democrats (you can be sure that they're calling his office right now). He would also anger his conservative supporters if he goes with the filibuster because he would contribute in blocking their nominee.

I have confirmed reports that Kerry wants to filibuster Alito, and he is talking to his colleagues to round up the 41 votes he needs.

Three Democrats (Ben Nelson, Tim Johnson and Robert Byrd) support Alito. So right now, without the support of any Republicans, we still have 42 possible votes for a filibuster.

There are 4 moderate Republicans who should be targeted (Lincoln Chafee, Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe, and Ted Stevens).

Three Democrats (Mary Landrieu, Ken Salazar, and Dianne Feinstein) oppose Alito but also said they oppose a filibuster. So we must persuade them that a vote against Alito is meaningless if they don't support a filibuster.

The best way to persuade them would be for the Democratic leadership (Harry Reid, Dick Durbin, Chuck Schumer, Pat Leahy, and Debby Stabenow) and the five Presidential candidates (John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Russ Feingold, Joe Biden, and Evan Bayh) to form a Emergency Save the Constitution Committee and enlist the support of pro-choice, pro-freedom, and pro-democracy activists in Louisiana, Colorado, and California) to persuade their Senators to support a filibuster.

If Kerry gets very close to the votes he needs (38-39), Lieberman is going to be on the hot seat.

Stay tuned...this isn't over yet.