Shouldn't the PRESIDENTIAL candidates who are Senators turn up to vote?

It is shocking to see that some Senators (not mentioning any names) cannot be bothered to appear in the Senate for important legislative sessions and to vote. Too busy campaigning is not a good excuse!

Just ask some of their supporters!!!!

There are too many from the Senate on our side running for President. This has hurt us in the Senate where we should have a very slim majority. Someone should tell them that by voting the way we want them to they will enhance their campaigns far more effectively than by going to some cow pasture and trying to persuade a small group of people how to vote.

They can arrange with a member of the opposition for neither to show up if it is not going to effect the outcome.

these are elected representatives. Only for good reasons should they arrange a vote like illness, death in family.

Leadership ALWAYS whips the vote counts (finds out where each of their caucus members stands on a bill) BEFORE it is scheduled for a floor vote. When the votes of the presidential candidates can make the difference between whether or not a bill passes or cloture can be invoked, leadership tells them in advance and they fly in to vote. When their votes will NOT make a difference in the outcome, they don't come in to vote. PERIOD. This is the way it has always been done. Take a look at all the key votes when they came in or didn't. You'll see that whether or not they voted in cases where they didn't show would not have made a difference in the outcome. It's pre-agreed with leadership.

will do their job as president?

The idea behind Dodd's maneuver is to force the OTHER side to have 60 votes to move the legislation. It doesn't matter whether or not they show up. The other side needs 60 votes.

He knew that he was going to have conflicts like this if he did. And with the media probably lined up against him with his more progressive stances, it would have been an uphill battle.

This is why we really need election reform be high on the books come 2009. We need to take the length of time and the money out of this process, so that we can get a lot more viable options to vote for instead of the corporate shills that we seem to have in the process now so much.