The final vote was 52 in favor of cloture and 47 opposed (Reid switched to “No” at the end so that he could bring a motion to reconsider at a later date–a procedural move).  Dems picked up one new Republican waverer in the form of Sen. Susan Collins of Maine.

Greg Sargent’s got the best write-up of the GOP blockage here.  As he says:

What this means in a nutshell is this: While a majority of the U.S. Senate favors withdrawal from Iraq, the Senate can’t vote on a measure that would accomplish this — because the GOP Senate leadership won’t allow it.

Repeat that line to everyone you know.  Senate Republicans are blocking a true change of course in Iraq.

And in response, Senate Maj. Leader Harry Reid has pulled the Defense Authorization bill and it appears that he won’t bring it back to the floor until he can be guaranteed an up-or-down vote on the Levin-Reed Amendment and three others that will be offered (Warner-Lugar, Salazar ISG, and Landrieu).  Talk about playing hardball.

The Democratic National Committee has put together an action page on their site asking for Democrats to help fight against Republican obstruction on a straight up-or-down vote on the Levin-Reed redeployment amendment.  Check it out here.  According to the DNC’s Internet Outreach guy, Kombiz Lavasany, the responses won’t only go out in email form but as a fax into Senate offices as well.

If you’re from Iowa make sure to go send a letter/fax to Sen. Grassley and ask him to stand with Sen. Harkin and move for a straight up-or-down vote on the Levin-Reed Amendment–and tell him to support it, too!