There was a slumber party in the Senate last night complete with stacks of delivery fresh pizza, cots for those who needed some shut-eye, and activities (read: votes) throughout the night.

Senator Durbin even had his interns bring toothpaste, toothbrushes, and deodorant to the Republican leadership with a note saying: "supplies for your sleepless night, and "Help us bring an end to this war."

Yet, when the Senate voted at 5:13AM, 40 of the 100 members, the majority Republicans, failed to show.  

While the antics may work to increase pressure on recalcitrant lawmakers, legislatively little was done, and maybe that's a good thing.

The myriad of proposals of what to do about the disaster in Iraq run the spectrum from immediate, complete withdrawal to maintaining a troop "surge."  Those two extremes are actually the best options, argues Council on Foreign Relations Senior Fellow for Defense Policy Stephen Biddle.  Those muddling in the middle just don't understand the realities on the ground.  Biddle, like most pragmatic experts at this point, advocates the withdrawal option.  Although the chaos that could follow would be terrible, surging is a shot in the dark with a high-cost of lives and may be merely prolonging the inevitable without getting anything accomplished.