Two Democrats–Sens. Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA)–once again joined the GOP in an attempt to filibuster Wall Street reform, on the grounds that the bill does too little to regulate big financial institutions. But the Democrat who most vocally threatened to block the bill–Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND)–ultimately chose not to, and in a way became the deciding vote. Democratic leaders needed 60 votes to break the filibuster, and without Dorgan they would have had only 59.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=126173