Democrats were countering the extra comfort is unnecessary.

"We're tougher than they are, we sleep on the floor," said Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D.

Despite the jovial talk, both sides were digging in for what has shaping up to be a brutal, partisan battle. The face-off started at 6:00 p.m. Wednesday and lawmakers planned to make it last until Thursday at midnight.

The four nominees would have passed with a simple majority of the Senate, but Democrats have threatened filibusters that have forced Republicans to come up with 60 votes to end the debate and move to a confirmation vote. They have failed to do so in every case.

In the process, Republicans have accused Democrats of rewriting the Constitution by creating a new 60-vote threshold to claim a seat on the federal bench.

"Once they hit the floor, based upon all the history of this country, they deserve a vote up or down," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. "We did that for the Clinton administration and all prior administrations. And it's time they do it for this administration because this is a constitutional disaster waiting to happen unless we stand up and do what has to be done."

Democrats counter that the White House and its GOP allies want to recast the federal judiciary as a conservative stronghold. Democrats say they have confirmed most Bush nominees and have stopped only stridently anti-abortion and pro-business conservatives.

"We are not going to roll over, be stampeded and rubber-stamped by this administration to make the judiciary in this country their sandbox to play in. We are going to insist that those judges that are going to serve on the courts of this country are going to be committed to the fundamental core values of the Constitution of the United States," said Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass.

Republicans are pressing votes to break the Democratic blockade of three pending Bush nominees: California Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown, nominated for the nation's second most powerful court, the Appeals Court for the D.C. Circuit; Carolyn Kuhl, nominated to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals; and Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Owen (search), chosen for the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.

This is a fight about the Constitution, justice, and for now, numbers. Democrats say the scorecard reads 168 Bush nominees confirmed, four blocked via the filibuster.

"The American people, when they realize that we have approved 169 judges and blocked four — four of those out of the mainstream — they are going to say, 'What is all the fuss about?'" said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.

"There are seven more that they plan to do this to. They say it's only four, well that's four more than ever in the history of the United States," McConnell said.

But that number doesn't tell the entire story. Democrats ran the Senate for most of Bush's first two years in office and when they were in control the president suffered the lowest level of judicial confirmations of any president dating back to Jimmy Carter. The filibuster tactics have deprived Bush of judicial appointments he clearly would have won otherwise.

"The Constitution says that the president's nominees are to be voted, and that a majority of senators are to vote. To get confirmed, you need a majority of senators and that's 50 or 51, not 60," said Sen. George Allen, R-Va.

Democrats say that they plan to go head-to-head with the Republicans on the floor. They will talk about judges, but say they will also talk about issues they believe the voters care about more.

"[Voters] care a lot about the fact that 3 million of them don't have jobs. They care a lot about the fact that their health insurance is rising by more than 15 percent a year," said Daschle. "These are the things, other things that they care deeply about."

The 30-hour grudge match will give Republicans and Democrats a lot of time to try to beat each other senseless, but whether it will break the logjam on Bush judicial nominations appears not likely.