The House had its (sadly) symbolic vote on a non-binding resolution to halt Mr Bu$h’s escalation in Iraq. Final score: 246 against the escalation (including 17 Republicans) and 182 in favor of it (including 2 Democrats.) The vote has been termed a “rebuke” of Bu$hCo actions in Iraq.

A vote scheduled for today in the Senate seems a lot less certain.

Tomorrow the Senate will vote on whether to allow the same simple anti-escalation resolution that passed the House today to go to the Senate floor -- but a key adviser to Dem Senate leader Harry Reid says that Dems probably don't have the votes to make this happen.

Reid spokesman Jim Manley tells Election Central that he thinks cloture will garner a Senate vote in the low to mid 50s -- well short of the magic number of 60. Upshot: The Senate may end up failing to do what the House did today -- that is, to have a straight yes-or-no vote on whether it supports escalation. It would be the second time in a row that the Senate has failed to bring a vote on the "surge" to the floor.

Mr Bu$h signals his reaction to the Congressional “rebuke.”

On the same day that the House of Representatives expressed its disapproval of President Bush's US troop increase in Iraq, the Pentagon announced it is accelerating the deployment of a division headquarters there by about three months, which would add another 1,000 troops to the "surge."

The 3rd Infantry Division headquarters based in Fort Stewart, Ga., will deploy next month instead of June, a Pentagon statement said.

Those non-binding resolutions certainly are effective, aren’t they?