And so it was — the U.S. Senate voted today 57-42 in favor of closing debate on legislation that would grant the District a voting seat in the House of Representatives, three short of what was needed to prevent a Republican-led filibuster. The measure, which passed the House in April, is now likely dead, and another attempt to correct a 200-year injustice has been thwarted. Of course, the legislation could be re-introduced, but it won’t be this year, and might not even be until after the 2008 elections.

This defeat is particularly painful. After other attempts similarly failed, the legislation was written as a political compromise, a proposal to grant the District only its voting seat in the House and off-setting the expected Democratic gain with an additional seat for Utah. Some saw this as a cop-out — you don’t compromise on essential principles, they said — while others defended it as a step forward instead of no step at all. We backed it, and there isn’t much second-guessing to be done now. What we have now is the chance to forge ahead with new ideas.

Amend It: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) insisted yesterday that the cause of voting rights is as important to him as it is to anyone else. Fine. Let’s hold him to that. If it takes an amendment to the Constitution, let’s propose one, and let’s regularly remind him of the very words he used — “If we want to give the residents representation, then we should begin the amendment process.”

Publicize It: Let’s force the voting rights message on to everything the District owns, controls or has even the scantest of influence over. The new baseball stadium? We’ll call it Taxation Without Representation Field. The Wilson Building? Let’s get a big sign out front tallying how much in federal taxes we have paid, how many residents we have lost in foreign wars and for how many days the injustice has continued. Let’s partner up with local businesses to have them display signs supporting District voting rights. Whenever members of Congress come back to town, they should know that the cause is still alive. Whenever tourists come to visit, they should be forced to ask what the ruckus is about, and then ask their own members of Congress where they stand on it.

Change It: One of the biggest impediments to effective lobbying for District voting rights is a law Congress passed that forbids the city from using its funds to lobby for the cause. This has to be changed. Our shadow delegation should be paid so they can make this more than just a part-time gig. If the District wants to hire a lobbyist to incessantly push the issue on the Hill, it should be able to.

The voting rights cause may have taken a hit today, but it’s far from dead. We’d like to express all our thanks to the many activists and residents who allowed it to get as far as it did, not to mention the members of Congress who walked it through many hearings and floor debates. D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.), Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Ut.) — thank you. And of course, even though the vote was lost today, we’d like to give a big shoutout to the Republicans who voted the right way — Sen. Richard Lugar (Ind.), Sen. Susan Collins (Me.), Sen. Olympia Snowe (Me.), Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.), Sen. Norm Coleman (Minn.), Sen. George Voinovich (Oh.), Sen. Orrin Hatch (Ut.) and Sen. Robert Bennett (Ut.).