You’re getting sleepy …
Remember: The average age of a U.S. senator is 60 years old, so when you ask them to stay up past their bedtime, you have to assume that some strange things will occur.
On Tuesday night, the Democratic leadership made the U.S. Senate go into an overnight session to force an up-or-down vote on troop withdrawal from Iraq. This, however, may not be such a stretch; the Iraq war keeps most politicians up at night anyway.
» 12:25 a.m.: Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., doesn’t seem too upset about spending some extra time in the Capitol. “This place has A/C. My house doesn’t.”
» 12:30 a.m.: Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., asks Yeas & Nays to bring her coffee and doughnuts when she returns for the 5 a.m. vote. We conveniently “forget.”
» 1:15 a.m.: Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., is enjoying the evening. He sees it as an opportunity to “sit with pencil in hand and do some writing” and also a chance to “holler and joke with staff.” “I would go and
| Frank Seravalli/For The Examiner |
exercise,” he told us, “but I’m afraid I’ll fall off the treadmill.”
» 3 a.m.: “No, I haven’t gotten any sleep” said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., “but I sure as heck haven’t spent much time listening to the previous speakers on the floor. It has been a waste of time.” And, because he’s such a trend-bucking maverick, McCain told us that he’s “drinking a lot of coffee” to stay awake. Rebel!
» 4:50 a.m.: Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., confesses that he did, in fact, use one of the cots put out in the LBJ Reception Room for sleepy senators. “I actually went in there and tried to get some rest, but it’s hard — you’re still half awake.”
» 5 a.m.: Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., who was sworn in to the Senate only three weeks ago, finally gets his chance to make his first remarks on the floor, but who’s watching? He admits: “At home, it’s now 3 a.m. and I doubt that we have many viewers.”
» 5:25 a.m.: We catch Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, with disheveled hair and white sneakers (dress-code violation!) to accompany his blue suit and had to ask if he’d recently snuck in some zzz’s. He admitted to catching a “couple hours of sleep in between votes” and was annoyed that the Dems woke him from his slumber.
» 5:40 a.m.: Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., is spotted carrying a travel neck pillow throughout the Senate chamber. He said he hoped it would “save him from another trip to the chiropractor” during the long night.
» 5:45 a.m.: Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., who served as the Senate’s presiding officer during the 4 a.m. hour, reveals that she wasn’t giving her total attention to Senate colleagues. “I caught the end of McCain, as well as Clinton, Coleman, Casey and Barrasso speeches — just to show you I was listening,” she told us.
