What I don't follow yet, and maybe they have not figured it out yet is this:
Yes, the republicans are determining that Collins, Murkowsky, maybe Romney are not in favor of voting to confirm before the election and would not support a motion to do that.
But that is not necessarily the same as saying that they would abstain from voting if the majority votes to go before the election. You know they are saying they are not in favor of doing it before the election but they vote everyday on matters that they think should not have been voted out of committee without fixing this or that, so they have to decide whether they are going take their ball and bat and go home or vote and be counted.
No punchline there. Just saying I would need to see how that shakes out before concluding that collins or murkowsky's statement shake out. I have heard it reported almost as though they will not vote for a nominee before the election just because they do not support having a vote until after the election. I dont think we know that yet. As I said, senators lose on all sorts of procedural matters everyday but then just go forward on the larger issue.