Yesterday I lamented the persistence of the Myth of 60 in the traditional media, but there's been at least one article brought to my attention that gave the situation a fuller and more nuanced reading:

As Senate Democrats prepare for next year's agenda, they are likely to have a working filibuster-proof majority on a variety of legislative issues that could provide early victories for President-elect Barack Obama.

Though they are two votes short of their quest for 60 votes -- with two races still undecided -- Democrats say that regular support from a few Republican moderates will allow them to pass bills that were halted in the current Congress by GOP parliamentary roadblocks. These include health-care programs, immigration revisions and presidential nominations.

The outlet: The Washington Post. The reporter: Paul Kane. Well done!

One other observation from the article:

"The truth is . . . we will be fine on most major issues. We will almost always have some moderate Republican support," said Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.).

Yup. She's right. Maybe that's why she didn't care that she didn't get the apology she was supposedly holding out for. Of course, it's also reason not to have worried so much about what Lieberman did once he got what was really coming to him.

But both sides of the reality -- that cloture voting is rarely a party-line affair -- are reflected in the article. Both the fact that Republicans often cross over:

Democrats are counting on moderate Republicans such as Maine Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, who have tilted leftward on issues such as Medicare spending and the Iraq war, to provide the votes to block a filibuster.

"You're just one state away -- you're just Maine away -- in terms of who you need to work with," Klobuchar said.

And that Democrats often do, too:

Likely internal divisions among Democrats make it difficult to handicap the outcome of the biggest issues next year, particularly comprehensive efforts to secure universal health insurance and energy independence legislation, aides say.

That's the reality. And yet, as long as the possibility of holding Lieberman accountable for his treachery was in the news, the story line was driven almost entirely by the Myth of 60.