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By Tuesday afternoon, repeal advocates lost Senator Susan Collins, who said she would join a GOP filibuster unless Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid agreed to open the debate. The loss of Collins was the Democrats their last best chance for beating a GOP filibuster that would prevent the Senate from moving forward with debate on the National Defense Authorization Act, to which the "don't ask, don't tell" repeal measure was attached.
By the time the dust settled, Republicans had prevailed 56-43, repeal advocates swiftly decried the outcome as the product of a massive political failure but vowed not to give up till year's end, despite an increasingly bleak outlook for the effort.
"Today's vote is a failure of leadership on the part of those who have been duly elected to serve this nation and to put the best interests of the country ahead of partisan politics," said Alexander Nicholson, executive director of Servicemembers United. "It is simply inexcusable that this vote failed today."
And Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, acknowledged what everyone knew.
"We now have no choice but to look to the lame duck session where we'll have a slim shot," Sarvis said. "The Senate absolutely must schedule a vote in December when cooler heads and common sense are more likely to prevail once midterm elections are behind us."
Indeed, Sen. Joseph Lieberman indicated earlier in the day that he fully expected Majority Leader Harry Reid to push the legislation again following the November election.
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