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The 'old bulls' of the SenateBy Bill Schneider (CNN) -- Why didn't the nuclear option go off in the Senate this week? Turns out some old bulls had new plays, including the political Play of the Week. "The old bulls never left," said Sen. John Warner, R-Virginia. "It is not so much the old bulls. It's experience," said Sen. Robert Byrd, D-West Virginia. What the old bulls have that the young whippersnappers lack is commitment to the Senate as a unique institution. "No other legislative body in the world," said Byrd. "None," said Warner. "... the whole world that is like ours," continued Byrd. They went back to the framers of the Constitution to try to ascertain how a rule banning judicial filibusters would affect the Senate. "How would that have strengthened the Senate, further preserved the hallmark of this institution, namely the right to preserve the minority to have a voice? How would that occur?" said Warner. Their conclusion? It wouldn't. "Well, the nuclear option, or so-called constitutional option, would have destroyed the Senate as a forum for freedom of speech, for freedom to dissent, as a forum for the protection of minorities," said Byrd. So they drafted the terms of the deal whereby 14 senators preserved the unanimous consent tradition in the Senate. "Well, we drafted that provision right here in this room ... last week," said Byrd. "Yes, we did," said Warner. The old bulls argued that the deal actually protects the president. "I've always looked at this, the filibuster rule in there, as a protection of the president from the extremes of his own party ... to force upon him a certain nomination," said Warner. Even if the president doesn't seem to want to be protected. What the old bulls were protecting was the Senate and its special tradition of rising above partisanship. The deal looked a little shaky yesterday when the minority blocked a confirmation vote on John Bolton as United Nations ambassador. But Democrats argued they weren't killing the nomination. They were just delaying it so the Senate could get more information about the nominee. 
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