Sound like the Republicans' old plan? Essentially, it is. But TIME congressional correspondent John Dickerson says that Friday's play-nice decision to delay the decision on witnesses could still play into Democrats' hands. Unified Democrats would need only six GOP votes to proceed without witnesses -- which leaves Henry Hyde the task of convincing 51 weary jurors that there's more that they need to hear. Meanwhile, the White House legal team bears the schizophrenic burden of planning for the worst while hoping for the best. But it's clearly the Senate's show now, and after nearly morphing into a mad House this week, it had to act its age and take whatever it could agree upon. The White House and Henry Hyde are just going to have to live with that.
Senate: I'm OK, You're OK
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WASHINGTON: The Senate is back in charge of impeachment -- and members are feeling mighty good about themselves. "We are happy that the Democrat leader is happy, and he is happy that we are happy," Republican Phil Gramm told reporters as the Senate reconvened for a gaudy 100-0 passage of the precooked trial blueprint. Now set to start at 1 p.m. (ET) Thursday, the process has been apportioned rather neatly: 24 hours of Senate floor time each for the House managers and the President, and 16 hours for senators' questions. Then comes the firefight: competing resolutions on whether to subpoena witnesses, followed by the up-and-down votes that will determine the course -- and perhaps the outcome -- of this impeachment trial.