Senate Republicans are so pessimistic about their looming Tuesday vote to move to repeal Obamacare that some of them now believe that falling a vote or two short would count as a win.

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his leadership team are urging the GOP caucus to cough up the 50 votes needed to begin debate on nixing the Democratic health care law — even though Republicans aren’t even sure what they’ll be voting on and no proposal has the votes to pass. If McConnell’s gambit fails by just one vote, Republicans hope they can take another shot if and when Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) returns from cancer treatment.

Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) are being treated as lost causes in informal whip counts, effectively dooming the measure out of the gate. To get to 49, a half-dozen other skeptical GOP senators would have to be persuaded.