Despite the best efforts of pop icon Lady Gaga, gay rights advocates fell four votes short this afternoon in a Senate vote that could have set the stage for repeal of the Pentagon's "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays in the military.  Put in place by former president Bill Clinton 17 years ago, the policy allows gays and lesbians to serve only as long as they keep their sexual preferences secret. The Senate this afternoon blocked an effort to begin debate on a Defense Department budget bill -- largely because it included a provision that would open the door for repealing the policy -- allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military.  The House has already approved repeal of don't ask, don't tell.  Backers of the Senate repeal needed 60 votes to move ahead, but lost some of the moderate Republicans they were counting on. The vote on taking up the measure was 56 in favor, 43 against. All Republicans voted to block the measure.  Arkansas Democrats Mark Pryor and Blanche Lincoln crossed party lines to oppose the bill. So did Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, but that was for procedural reasons: Senate rules require the Nevada Democrat to have voted on the winning side in order to call the measure back up for reconsideration.  Lady Gaga's Monday appearance at a rally in Maine was meant to pressure that state's two GOP senators, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, to allow debate to proceed. It didn't work.  This morning, Collins announced her support for Senate Republican leaders' efforts to block debate -- even though she wants to repeal don't ask, don't tell.  Noting that 13,000 troops have been dismissed because of their sexual orientation since 1993, Collins said: "We should be expressing our gratitude to those individuals, not trying to exclude them from serving."  For now, however, she said she'd stick with her party leadership. Other GOP moderates who are following suit: Snowe, Scott Brown of Massachusetts, and George Voinovich of Ohio.  Republicans said they wanted to block what they described as an election-eve political stunt designed to rev up key Democratic constituencies. In addition to the don't ask, don't tell proviso, the defense bill also includes a controversial amendment that would allow children brought to this country illegally by their parents to qualify for citizenship.  "A transparent attempt to show their special interest groups that they haven't forgotten about them ahead of the election," is how Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., described the Democrats' move.  The defense bill does not mandate repeal of don't ask, don't tell, but authorizes repeal if the Pentagon determines that doing so will not damage military morale or discipline.  The Pentagon is surveying its 400,000 uniformed members of the military for their views on changing the policy, but Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a Navy veteran and Obama's 2008 presidential rival, is convinced the deck has been stacked in favor of doing away with don't ask, don't tell.  As currently written, the measure leaves the decision on repealing the policy to the president, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff -- "all of whom have said 'repeal,'" noted McCain. He accused Obama of engaging in "a cynical act for political reasons as the election nears."  The celebrity input didn't have much effect on senators' votes.  "I think I have a better understanding of the difficulties of this matter than Lady Gaga has," Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., told reporters. "Whether Lady Gaga likes it or not is not of concern to me," added Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., "she's not in the military."
Measure allowing gays in the military stopped short in the Senate - On Politics: Covering the US Congress, Governors, and the 2010 Election - USATODAY.com