In the modern filibuster, the minority party leader simply informs the Senate Majority Leader of a filibuster, and a vote for cloture is taken, requiring 3/5 of all sworn senators (60) to vote "yea" in order to get cloture -- a vote to end debate.
Without cloture, the measure on the floor can't proceed, and the bill is set aside.
That's not the way it's always been. That's not the way it has to be this time. Reid should demand the Republicans debate, and Democrats should stay awake to vote for quorum calls.
Anyone who has seen "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington", or have heard of Senator Strom Thurmond's famous 24 hour filibuster against the Civil Rights Act knows that this isn't the way things used to be. It used to be, when cloture didn't pass, the side which voted against cloture had to take the floor, and keep talking, for as long as there was a quorum on the Senate floor - 51 Senators.
That means: late into the night, early in the morning, all hours, in fact, of every day, of every week, of ever month, until a cloture call can be successful, there must be at least 50 Democrats around and ready to answer a quorum call. They'd have to stay awake, or at least be able to be woken up at a moment's notice, simply to physically exhaust the opposition.
Well, goddam it, aren't the American people and their healthcare worth staying awake for?
It means that the Democrats have to keep 50 Senators around - cots in the back room and all - in order to answer a quorum call, to keep Lieberman, McCain, Snowe, and all those Republicans demanding that they get the chance to talk out Health Care Reform.
It's a fricking battle. Staying at the ready on cots in the Senate Cloakroom is a battle. But, goddam it, Reid -- Health Care Reform is worth staying awake for.