A reminder that Scotty B isn’t so much the 41st vote at this point as the 43rd. So long as Republicans vote as a bloc to filibuster, Blanche Lincoln and Ben Nelson have no reason not to join in. They’ve both been crippled by ObamaCare and need to placate their red-state constituents, and being the 59th vote accomplishes precisely nothing. So here’s the new reality in the Senate, ironically made possible by the union-friendly people of Massachusetts:

This was a cloture vote to end debate, and not the actual nomination up or down.

Senate Democrats needed 60 votes. Among those voting no: the newest member, Sen. Scott Brown (R).

The AFL-CIO released this statement: “It is reprehensible that a minority in the U.S. Senate has blocked an up-or-down vote on Craig Becker, nominated seven months ago by President Obama to serve on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Once again, a Republican-led filibuster has put political interests over the needs of America’s working families. For more than two years, the NLRB has had only two of its five members. Without a fully staffed NLRB, working families face a major disadvantage in winning justice in the workplace.”

Here’s the roll; 15 senators skipped the vote as a fait accompli once Brown, Lincoln, and Nelson made their feelings known. This is a blow to Card Check, but don’t celebrate too much: Obama’s now grumbling about recess appointments, which is likely in this case given that Becker’s a union tool and The One’s pals in big labor have been warning him lately about their unhappiness over ObamaCare. Oh well.