Our Latest Stories:

At the very end of the workday yesterday, there was a very important vote in the United States Senate. It was on an attempt by Senator Russ Feingold to add an amendment to the FISA Amendments Act (a permanent renewal of the Protect America Act). The Feingold Amendment would have prohibited the American government from using the expanded electronic spy powers of the FISA Amendments Act to surreptitiously target American citizens for spying.

I’ll be writing more about the actual Feingold amendment later this morning. For right now, I want to focus on a political dynamic related to the vote on the Feingold amendment: Senators John McCain, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton did not show up to vote.

It isn’t just for this particular vote that senators McCain, Clinton and Obama are not present, either. Over and over again over the last several months, these senators have failed to show up for very important votes on legislation that deals with essential aspects of Americans’ liberty and livelihood.

Barack Obama tells us all Yes we can, but when asked to show up to vote in the Senate, Obama’s answer is usually No I can’t. Hillary Clinton promises to bring our voices to Washington D.C., but how can she do that when she’s off campaigning in Lincoln, Nebraska? Why should we believe John McCain’s motto that he is Ready to lead on day one, when he is avoiding the leadership responsibilities he has right now in the Senate?

I understand that each one of these senator-candidates may believe that the higher good is being served by neglecting their duties in the Senate for the sake of being elected President. If that’s really true, however, why are they holding on to their Senate seats at all?

If the requirements of running for President are really too much to enable them to show up for work in the Senate, then McCain, Clinton and Obama ought to resign from the Senate, and devote themselves full time to presidential campaigning. Their refusal to do so means that the people of Arizona, Illinois and New York State are receiving inadequate representation in Congress.

The personal ambitions of these senators to become President is no excuse for this neglect. McCain, Clinton and Obama should stop campaigning on active days in the Senate, or leave the Senate completely.