On a day when Senator Mitch McConnell announced that the GOP has the votes to force a rule change on filibustering judicial nominations, the Democrats have suddenly discovered the notion of compromise. Joe Biden announced today, shortly after McConnell's announcement, that the Democrats will float a proposal to allow all but two of the seven nominees receive an up-or-down vote in the Senate:

U.S. Senate Republicans have the votes to ban any more Democratic procedural roadblocks against President Bush's judicial nominees, a top Republican said on Sunday.

A spokesman for Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada promptly questioned the claim, while another Democrat, Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware, floated a possible compromise to avert a fight that could bring the Senate to a near halt. ...

Biden, appearing on ABC's "This Week," said, "I think we should compromise and say to them that we're willing to -- of the seven judges -- we'll let a number of them go through, the two most extreme not go through and put off this vote" to end the filibuster.

Isn't it amazing what a backbone can accomplish? Now that the Senate GOP caucus finally started acting as a majority party, the Democrats now understand that Harry Reid backed them into a corner. If they filibuster Priscilla Owen and Janice Rogers Brown, the Republicans will force the rule change down their throat. Despite the bluster coming from Reid, if the GOP has the votes, they eventually will use them. That leaves the Democrats with two highly unpalatable choices, thanks to Reid's threats: they either shut down the Senate during wartime and stop legislation that mainly benefit their constituencies, or look like idiots and do nothing at all.

Biden may not be the brightest member of the Democratic caucus, but he's wiser than Reid. He understands that if the Republicans have two choices -- no opportunity for their nominees to get votes for two years or a few weeks of bad press -- even Bill Frist will eventually pick Door Number Two. The only way out will be a compromise, which allows the Democrats to look magnanimous and still hold the filibuster as a trump card.

Needless to say, Frist would be an idiot to bite at this. For one thing, agreeing to such an arrangement amounts to a validation of both the unprecedented use of the filibuster and the notion that the judicial nominees are "extremists". It also solves nothing -- it just postpones the fight until a Supreme Court seat opens up. The compromise amounts to nothing except a tactical retreat for Democrats to avoid a huge loss. If Frist accepts such an offer, it will signal that he has no intention of providing leadership to the Republican contingent.

Stay tuned.

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