Reid is not much of an impassioned speaker, so this is about as passionate as he gets. The public speeches and media appearances are also a remarkably frontal and public crusade for a leader who normally prefers to get things done by quieter means. His confrontations with McConnell, heretofore clothed in a sort of phony, gritted-teethed Washington "comity," have become openly hostile: On the Senate floor last week, McConnell said Reid would "be remembered as the worst leader here ever."

Reid and McConnell's dueling floor speeches became so heated that another senator, Roger Wicker of Mississippi, finally stepped in to ask them to knock it off. Like a kid beseeching his parents to stop embarrassing him by fighting in public, Wicker suggested that the conversation continue behind closed doors. As a result, all 100 senators are scheduled to convene -- off the record and without staff present -- in a rare bipartisan session Monday evening.

The unusual meeting offers the possibility of a deus ex machina solution to the current standoff. But Reid insists that he is past seeking a negotiated solution and that unless all seven of the proffered nominations get a vote, he will proceed with the rules change. The nominations include Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and two nominees to the National Labor Relations Board; Republicans are blocking them, Reid averred, not because their qualifications are lacking but out of a desire to stop their agencies from functioning.

Jim Manley, a former top Reid staffer who knows the inscrutable majority leader well, told me he believes Reid is serious. "I believe he's had it up to here with the Republicans, he and his caucus realize something has to change, and he's prepared to move forward [on Tuesday," Manley said.

In his speech Monday, Reid posited that the rule change he's proposing is no big deal. "In the last 36 years, we've changed the rules with a simple majority 18 times," he said, But Republicans are not likely to see it that way. They warn that if Reid does this, it will lead to more gridlock, not less; one top GOP lobbyist predicted that the reaction will be one of "massive resistance" that will completely shut down the Senate. A Republican leadership aide agreed with this assessment.

But Reid insists the time has come for action. When an audience member at his Monday speech asked him if there was room for future negotiations, he replied, "Talks on what? Talks on what? Talks on what?" He paused for emphasis. "If they have a proposal, bring it to me. But otherwise, we're going to have a vote in the morning."

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