The all-nighter didn't end in a happy morning for opponents of the war in Iraq. Just after 11 a.m., by a vote of 52-47, the Senate blocked cloture on the Levin-Reed amendment, effectively killing the measure, which would have led to a troop drawdown from Iraq within 120 days of enactment. According to the Hill newspaper, four Republicans -- Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., Gordon Smith, R-Ore., and Olympia Snowe, R-Maine -- broke ranks and voted with the Democrats, but the final tally fell eight votes short of the 60 needed to end a Republican filibuster and force an up-or-down vote on the amendment.
CNN is reporting that "as members cast their votes, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice hurried between private meetings with lawmakers in their Capitol Hill offices to make the administration's case for the war."
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