Why Not a Roll Call Vote?

To the surprise of no one, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is reporting (registration required) that Bill Frist was responsible for the decision to pass the Senate's apology for ignoring anti-lynching legislation for more than a century by voice vote late in the evening rather than by a high visibility roll call vote during a more conspicuous time. What is surprising, though, is that he doesn't have his story straight about why he made that decision.

The group that pressed for the vote wanted a roll call vote, but Frist's chief spokesman, Bob Stevenson, said that the bill's sponsors had requested the voice vote. The primary sponsors were Mary Landrieu and George Allen. Landrieu was first to dispute the claim, but Frist's spokesman responded, "at least one of the sponsors" had made the request. Unfortunately, Allen's camp disagreed, as well, with Allen's press secretary offering, "I don't know why Bob Stevenson would characterize it that way." I can't imagine.

AMERICAblog also addresses this article, and Atrios quotes it at length if you don't want to register.