See previous: 2007.06.28 "No Illegal Left Behind" Roundup. With a little luck that will be the last of my NILB roundups and I my even start finding some time to blog about other things.

Junior GOP senators defeat old guard
By Stephen Dinan

The immigration-reform bill was supposed to be a defining moment for the old guard.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy could establish a new civil rights legacy to rival his brothers'; Sen. John McCain could show leadership and accomplishment by standing up to his party's base; and President Bush could secure a major domestic achievement for his second term.

Instead, the young guns — a small, wily group of junior Republican senators, most of them with less than a full term in the upper chamber — sent the bill into a tailspin, tying Democratic leaders into legislative knots and earning enough opposition among senators to block the Senate bill, culminating in yesterday's vote to kill the measure. ...

Below the fold:

• Immigration Bill Dies in Senate
• Immigration bill quashed

See also:

• Immigration Reform, for Real
• Video: Beltway Boys rip “nativists,” praise Graham’s “profile in courage”
• Panama City, FL’s simple plan to combat illegal immigration
• Audio: Sen. Jeff Sessions talks up talk radio’s effect on the immigration bill’s demise
• The Will to Build
• "That's not fair! You tricked me!"
• Post favors illegal immigration
• Dafydd ab Hugh: Spin City, Here We Come
• Peggy Noonan: How we become American. 
• Bush May Be Out of Chances For a Lasting Domestic Victory

Immigration Bill Dies in Senate
Bipartisan Compromise Fails To Satisfy the Right or the Left
By Jonathan Weisman, Washington Post Staff Writer

The most dramatic overhaul of the nation's immigration laws in a generation was crushed yesterday in the Senate, with the forces of the political right and left overwhelming a bipartisan compromise on one of the most difficult issues facing the country.

With 53 senators against moving on to a final vote and 46 in favor, supporters fell dramatically short of the 60 votes needed to overcome the delaying tactics and parliamentary maneuvers that have dogged the bill for weeks. With no way to cut off debate, Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) pulled the bill from the Senate floor for the second time this month, and this time it is not likely to come up again before a new president comes to power. ...

In truth, opposition to the bill was far more complex than proponents were letting on. In crafting a delicate compromise, the bill's 12 architects created a measure that was reviled by foes of illegal immigration, opposed by most labor unions and unloved by immigration advocates. Opposition came not only from radio hosts such as Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage but also from the American Civil Liberties Union and the AFL-CIO. ...

Immigration bill quashed
By Stephen Dinan

The on-again-off-again immigration bill took a fatal blow yesterday as a majority of senators voted to block it, responding to millions of e-mails, phone calls and faxes from voters furious over a measure they saw as amnesty.

The vote to block the bill was 53-46 — a crushing defeat given that supporters fell 14 votes shy of the 60 needed to limit debate and set an up-or-down vote. It also represents a major loss of support from just two days earlier, when 64 senators had voted to resurrect the bill from its first defeat three weeks ago.

"The message is crystal clear that the American people want us to start with enforcement, both at the border and at the workplace, and don't want promises," said Sen. David Vitter, Louisiana Republican. "They want action, they want results, they want proof because they've heard all the promises before."

It was a devastating defeat for President Bush, who invested a tremendous amount of political capital into immigration reform.