Selling cheap

The nuclear option has been avoided with a dramatic 11th-hour compromise. It was nice -- actually unprecedented in recent memory -- to see members of both parties actually sitting down and talking without knives and guns.

Personally, I think the Democrats sold themselves short.

As the last two days wore on, it was becoming more and more evident that the GOP was willing to consider a compromise.
Why?

As was being whispered in the hallowed halls, the GOP was beginning to wonder if they had to votes to pull off the nuclear option. It'd only take a few thinking Republicans (is that an oxymoron?) to kill Bill Frist's little adventure. Therefore the desire for an agreement became stronger on the GOP side.

As I write this, body is preparing for an actual up-or-down vote on federal appellate court nominee Priscilla Owen today. (Be a shame if she lost after all that....)

According to the AP:

The agreement, crafted over the past several weeks by seven Republicans and seven Democrats, also opened the way for yes-or-no votes on two other of President Bush's judicial picks who have been in nomination limbo for more than two years – William H. Pryor Jr. for the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and Janice Rogers Brown for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
The agreement, which applies to Supreme Court nominees, said future judicial nominations should "only be filibustered under extraordinary circumstances," with each Democratic senator holding the discretion to decide when those conditions had been met.
But of greater import, the deal on the rights of the minority party to filibuster judicial nominees avoids a showdown that could have shaken the traditions of the Senate, weakened the powers of the minority and threatened the comity the Senate needs to function.

I suspect the 'extrordinary circumstances' could have been weakened a bit, had the Democrats pushed a bit more. And perhaps the guaranteed (almost ) passage of three nominees might have been two.

I don't think the Democrats, as the bargaining wore on last night, were aware they were unexpectedly playing with the winning hand. Or maybe they were no more sure they were playing from a position of strength than the GOP was aware that it wasn't.

And so it goes.