Sen. Bond on C-SPAN re: Judge Alito

Bond says he, "will proudly vote for" Alito's placement on the Supreme Court. Bond decried the use of Alito's confirmation as a "political football," and encouraged his fellow Senators to put aside partisanship and to vote for Alito. (C-SPAN stream)

Currently, the Senate is debating whether to vote for "cloture," or the end of debate. Sen. Kerry said he would endorse a filibuster in order to delay a vote on Alito. If the Senate votes for cloture today at 4:30 (eastern), which requires 60 "yes" votes, the Senate will officially vote for or against Alito tomorrow.

There are a number of groups trying to pin down which Dems are for or against a filibuster. They have only an hour to go.

There are no hard numbers, but C-SPAN's research shows 57 votes are expected for Alito, and only 37 against.

Update: Sen. Cornyn (R-TX) is on now, saying Alito opponents are represented by the ACLU, a widly liberal organization that "defends pedophiles" and terrorists rather than police and "children who want to pray in shcool".

Sen. Reid was on earlier saying that Alito would support the policies of the President over the concerns about Constitutional protections.

Update 2: The cloture motion passed 72-25. The Senate will vote on Alito's nomination tomorrow morning at 11 a.m (ET).