He rejected Democratic complaints that they did not have enough information. "They have what they need," McClellan said.
Biden said yesterday's vote was meant "to tell the administration that they cannot dictate to the United States Senate."
"Maybe they'll take notice," Biden added. "But the administration is so arrogant, you can't be sure."
Sen. George V. Voinovich (Ohio), Bolton's sharpest Republican critic, voted to end debate yesterday but said he will vote against confirmation once the issue reaches the floor.
"Please, find a better candidate," he implored President Bush as he finished his midafternoon speech.
Freshman Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) also voted for "cloture" but said he would vote against confirmation, in apparent protest of the administration's inclusion of Ellsworth Air Force Base, the state's second-largest employer, on a list of recommended base closings. He said of Bolton, "I don't think he's the best man for the job."
Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), a Bolton supporter and one of the 14 who signed the agreement on judicial filibusters, said yesterday: "Maybe this was just a bridge too far at the end of the most stressful week in recent memory. . . . The spirit that we were trying to create has been damaged."
Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.), also a Bolton supporter and one of the 14 negotiators, said the Bolton vote had "no linkage" to the deal on judges. It was about "the mystery of the unknown" in the requested documents, he said.
The failed bid to end debate capped two days of Senate speeches, in which even Bolton's strongest defenders acknowledged he has upbraided subordinates and aggressively interpreted intelligence to argue that Syria, Cuba and other nations are more dangerous than many think.
"Let's be frank," Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said yesterday. "He is not a career diplomat, either by profession or temperament." But previous ambassadors have proved "that directness and forcefulness are assets, not hindrances, to effectiveness at the U.N.," he added.
Bolton once told an audience, "the [U.N.] Secretariat building in New York has 38 stories. If you lost 10 stories today, it wouldn't make a bit of difference." Several Democrats cited the quote, and similar statements, in yesterday's debate. His "blatant hostility toward the institution at which he would serve and his history of pursuing his personal policy agenda while holding public office lead me to question whether Mr. Bolton's appointment as our ambassador to the United Nations would serve U.S. interests," Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.) said.
Bolton's supporters said a blunt, no-nonsense ambassador is exactly what the United Nations needs, especially in the aftermath of the oil-for-food scandal involving Iraq before Saddam Hussein's ouster. "John Bolton was picked by the president" and "a president ought to be able to bring people into his administration" who share his values and goals, Allen said. Criticisms of Bolton, Allen said, are "tangents" that distract from "the dire need for change in the United Nations, the need for accountability . . . the need for reform."
In yesterday's floor debate, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) said: "The obvious conclusion from the administration's stonewalling is that the documents being withheld from the Senate contain nothing to support the nomination and will only make it even clearer that Mr. Bolton is the wrong choice" for the United Nations.
Staff writers Peter Baker and Mike Allen contributed to this report.
