With no agreement to show off after a rare three and a half hour meeting of almost all Senators in the Old Senate Chamber, the stage is set for a rules showdown in the Senate that could ultimately take away from both parties the power to delay certain nominees of a President.
Senators in both parties had very positive things to say as they left the late night gathering at the U.S. Capitol - but they stopped short of announcing any deal to stop Democratic leaders from exercising what's known as the "nuclear option" - a move that would do away with the 60 vote threshold needed to overcome a filibuster on Executive Branch nominations.
"It was a very good meeting," said Sen. Sherrod Brown D-OH. "It was very impressive."
"Tonight was a very instructive, helpful meeting," said Sen. Johnny Isakson. "The country would have been proud."
But when asked for details, Brown, Isakson and many other Senators refused to reveal what had been discussed inside about the filibuster fight.
"I'm optimistic," said Sen. Bill Nelson D-FL, who emerged at one point late in the meeting and walked past reporters with his index finger to his lips, signifying that he wasn't going to make any noise about what Senators were discussing.
Both sides used the meeting to air their grievances on the use of filibusters, as Republicans gravely warned Democrats not to take away the right to delay certain nominations of a President, saying it would undermine the Senate.
Those warnings were exactly what Democrats had said eight years earlier, when it was Republicans who threatened the nuclear option over judicial nominations, when Democrats were blocking choices of President George W. Bush.
But like that battle back in 2005, Senators in both parties rose up from the ranks to try to forge a deal - as Sen. John McCain R-AZ led a group to see if they could find a deal and avoid a rules change.
Democrats, led by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, said they plan to force the first test vote on a delayed Obama nominee on Tuesday morning - and then we'll see if they push the nuclear button.
"I'm convinced I'm right, but I know some of them are convinced they're right," said Sen. Jim Inhofe R-OK as he left the Capitol on a hot and steamy Washington night.
