Thursday was a long day for Stephen Dinan of The Washington Times, with the Senate taking its sweet time to admit what insiders figured out Wednesday night: The immigration deal is dead.

The immigration "grand bargain" imploded in the Senate last night under a Republican filibuster as both parties dug in on matters of procedure and amendments.

The key test vote came last night on a motion to end debate and go to a vote on the merits of the bill. It couldn't even get a majority of senators, losing a 50-45 vote, 15 votes short of the 60 needed to break the filibuster.

Sources said Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, will leave open the possibility of bringing the bill back up later this year, but for now it is a crushing end to President Bush's highest current domestic priority -- and one of the few areas he said was ripe for bipartisan agreement.

"The headline is going to be 'Democrats vote for the bill, Republicans vote against it, the president fails again,' " Mr. Reid said, adding that he could not allow Republicans to take any more time on the bill because he needed to move on to other issues.

Despite Mr. Reid's claim that Republicans killed the bill, 11 Democrats as well as Vermont's independent socialist Sen. Bernard Sanders were among those whose "no" votes Thusday sustained the filibuster. Among the Democrats voting "no" were three members of the 2006 Democratic freshman class -- Sens. Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Jon Tester on Montana and Jim Webb of Virginia -- all elected with the staunch support of DailyKos.

-- Robert Stacy McCain, assistant national editor, The Washington Times

UPDATE 11 p.m.: Michelle Malkin names villains and heroes in the fight over what she calls "shamnesty":

If the White House thinks conservatives are going to forget whose bill this was and the tactics the White House used in its failed attempt to ram it through Congress, they better think again.

If Lindsay Graham and John McCain think their abominable behavior is going to be forgotten, they better think again.

All is not lost within the Republican Party, though. Watching the floor debate closely the past week, I can tell you that we have three staunch, eloquent conservative defenders in Sens. Sessions, DeMint, and Coburn (though I'm not sure why Coburn didn't vote on cloture). Unlike President Bush and the pro-amnesty Republicans, these three Republican senators stand out in their understanding and appreciation of the rule of law, the past historical failures of shamnesty bargains, and the vital nexis between border security and homeland security.

Ed Morrissey at Captain's Quarters:

Harry Reid talked about how he gave the bill lots and lots of time, but the Republicans wanted too many amendments and too much time from the busy legislative schedule.

Hmm. Funny about that. Isn't this the same Democratic leadership that took 108 days just to pass a spending bill for our troops in Iraq? How many weeks is that? I'll help -- over 15 weeks. That's 7 times longer than Reid wanted to give a historic overhaul of our immigration system.

MORE TO COME ....

-- RSM

UPDATE 11:30 p.m. -- Apparently, Lindsey Graham didn't like the amendment from his "good friend" Barack Obama:

You know, bipartisanship is music to the American people's ears. When you're out there on the campaign trail, you're trying to pull us all together, you're trying to make American better. Why can't we work together?

This is why we can't work together. Because some people -- when it comes to the tough decisions -- back away.

But Mr. Graham is grateful to the senior senator from Massachusetts:

To my friend, Senator Kennedy, thank you for trying to find a way, as much as we're different, to make this country better, more secure, to treat the 12 million people in a way they've never been treated, and in my opinion, deserve to be treated, and a chance to start over. What a sweet idea it is to have a second chance in life

.Hot Air has video of what they call Mr. Graham's "hissy fit."

More blog reaction to the Senate vote at Memeorandum.

Leave it to Don Surber to find the celebrity angle:

Paris Hilton was released from jail after a few days due to a medical condition. ...

Still that is more time than the "12 million" illegal aliens have spent behind bars.

-- RSM