Join the Christopher Ward Club, and Don't Be Sorry

When the last vote was held, at 1:40 a.m. Friday, the Senate had cast its 44th roll-call vote of that session. According to records dating back to 1964 that are maintained by the Senate Historical Office, that is the largest number of votes held in one session. It tops the 39 votes the Senate took on Oct. 27, 1995, to pass a budget reconciliation bill.

A more recent high-water mark came March 17, 2005, when the Senate celebrated St. Patrick's Day by casting 24 votes.

With Democrats numbering 51 to the Republicans' 49 and with two senators still campaigning for president, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) stacked every single budget amendment for Thursday, when Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.) could be on hand.

By day's end, the Senate had cast more votes in one session than had been previously cast all year.

Clinton entered Thursday having cast three votes so far this year, for a 7 percent voting attendance record. Her voting attendance record now has skyrocketed to 52 percent.

Obama and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) had similarly poor attendance records before the big vote-a-rama. McCain made about half of Thursday's votes -- he skipped town for political events during part of the day in Philadelphia -- so his attendance jumped from 29 percent to 40 percent in one day. Obama's, however, increased from less than 30 percent to more than 63 percent in a single day's roll calls.

That tells you something about the pace of the Senate on most days.

Baby, You're Much 2 Fast

Attention, political and hot-rod junkies: Now's your once-in-a-lifetime chance to own a little, red Corvette once driven by the speaker of the House of Representatives.

That's right, former speaker Thomas S. Foley's 2001 shiny, red Corvette convertible is up for sale. Much to his chagrin.

Foley (D-Wash.), who is 79 and largely retired as a lobbyist with Akin Gump, is no longer driving. But it sounds as if he'll always have a soft spot for the car.

"He loves that red Corvette," says Foley's wife, Heather, who listed the car on the Big Lot used-car-sales Web site. "He always wanted a Corvette, all his life."

A 30-year incumbent until the GOP tidal wave of 1994 swept him and his party out of power, Foley served as ambassador to Japan from 1997 to 2001. Upon returning stateside, the septuagenarian bought the Corvette as he took up a private sector job.