On International Talk Like A Pirate Day, maneuvering is going on today in the United States Senate, with majority leader Harry Reid working to try and schedule a series of votes tonight and tomorrow, trying to make the Republicans walk somewhere between 6-10 planks, hoping that they'll fall off of at least one.  If Reid is successful in getting one through, he can finally go back to the pirate council, MoveOn.org, and finally give them their return on investment.

All of these votes are going to be on amendments to the Defense Appropriations bill that would mandate date certain withdrawals.  Half of them will be Democratic-written defeatist amendments, half will be pseudo-Republican, Democrat-lite defeatist amendments.  Republican leader Mitch McConnell has some work to do.

While there are going to be a flurry of votes that are scheduled, the one tonight to focus on is the Webb amendment to unconstitutionally regulate troop rotation times, a backdoor way of withdrawing troops.  Reid and the Democrats are looking at this bill as a bellwether of how successful this barrage might be.  I'm told it's going to come up for a vote tonight, probably the first of the anti-war votes to come.

When Reid tried to resurrect his 'defeat now' strategy earlier in the summer, he had best opportunity he probably will ever have to get something passed out of the Senate.  Popularity for the war was at an all-time low and there wasn't enough measurable success on the ground in Iraq to help stabilize wobbly Republican Senators.  And yet, McConnell and the Republican leadership held enough of their caucus together to buy time until the September report by President Bush, General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker.  Reid should have a weaker hand to play this time around, but he doesn't.  He actually has a stronger hand with the return of Tim Johnson.

Events in Iraq are much different than they were at the beginning of the summer, unless, of course, you are Chuck Schumer.  General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker successfully spoke beyond the wails of the anti-war left in Congress to Americans, and according to the most recent Gallup poll, America believes Petraeus' assessment.  But the vote tonight on the Webb amendment is being billed as the crucial vote, because Reid has one more vote this time in Tim Johnson, and the Republicans may have lost the vote of George Voinovich.  The vote is going to be tight. 

I'm told by sources on the Hill that although Senator McConnell and Republican leadership is working feverishly today to make sure they've got the votes they need to counter the onslaught to come. 

But here's where you come in.  If you support General Petraeus, if you believe his assessment on Iraq deserves to be supported, if you are tired of the Democrats' incessant desire for defeat, call your Senator today.  Call them right now.  202-224-3121 is the number for the Congressional switchboard.  Call your Senator and demand that no MoveOn.org-led amendment be passed that undercuts our troops and undercuts our strategy that is showing signs of winning.  If you live in Pennsylvania, please call Arlen Specter. If you live in Alaska, please call Lisa Murkowski. If you live in Indiana, call Richard Lugar.  The timing of when the Webb bill is raised tonight is very fluid, so call now.

UPDATE:  Harry Reid just got thumped again by McConnell and the Republicans.  The Webb Amendment, which was supposed to have been voted on later tonight, was moved ahead to vote at 5:30 because the Democrats thought they had enough votes.  They didn't.  The final vote was 56-44, with a 60 vote threshhold being required.  Amendment fails.  We'll keep you posted on which one of the flurry of bills is next to come.