Senate Confirms Mukasey in a 53-40 Vote

Interestingly, there was not a procedural vote on the Mukasey nomination for Attorney General. It appears that Mukasey could not have garnered 60 votes to bring debate to a close. However, no senator forced such a vote.

In a straight up-or-down vote late last night on the floor of the Senate, 53 senators voted to confirm the nominee while 40 voted against confirmation. All voting Republicans supported the nomination.

Seven Democrats voted in favor of the nomination. They are: Evan Bayh (IN), Tom Carper (DE), Mary Landrieu (LA), Joe Lieberman (CT), Ben Nelson (NE), Dianne Feinstein (CA), and Chuck Schumer (NY).

How did our presidential candidates vote on the nomination? Easy — they didn't! Clinton (NY), Obama (IL), Biden (DE), Dodd (CT), and McCain (AZ) all had better things to do than vote yea or nay on the nation's new Attorney General, Michael Mukasey.