If Frist didn't have the votes, why did the democrats even bother with this deal? They could have let Frist call for a vote and shoot himself in the foot. Apparently, neither the dems nor the republicans believed they had the votes.
Frist didn't have the votes as long as the dems were prepared to give the RINO's a minor concession.
The only reason the deal took so long, was that the Dems had been hoping they could peel enough off without having to cave on Owen or Brown.