Nicely played, Senator Frist

I’m not a big fan of Bill Frist, but this maneuver showed some moxie:

A short, but sharp partisan skirmish broke out on the Senate floor Monday when Majority Leader Bill Frist tried to schedule a vote for Monday night or Tuesday on Wisconsin Democrat Sen. Russ Feingold’s resolution to censure President Bush.

Frist said Democratic senators ought to be on the record voting for or against the Feingold resolution.

“If the Democratic Party is going to be attacking the president in a time of war, then we are ready to vote and let’s see what the Democratic Party says,” Frist told reporters right after the floor skirmish.

“I don’t know where the Democratic leadership is right now,” he said, but if they support censuring Bush “then I want them to all be on the record.”

But Democratic leaders objected to a roll call vote and it was postponed indefinitely.

With such a bald move for the political spotlight, Feingold isn’t finding many allies in the Senate - “Feingold draws little support for censure – Democrats distance themselves from Wisconsin Senator’s effort to censure Bush.”