There were 57 Democratic Senators in 1991, when the Senate approved the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court. 11 Dem Senators voted yes on the nomination, along with 41 Republicans. Two Republicans actually voted no on the nomination, along with the remaining 46 Democrats.
The ABA was split on Thomas' qualification for the position, with half voting "qualified" (ABA's second lowest rating) and half voting "not qualified" (the lowest rating possible). Not to mention the whole Anita Hill thing (I guess only 48 Senators believed her). Meanwhile the entire ABA voted to give Alito a "very qualified" rating and I seriously doubt that he's been messing around on his wife, we've all seen how crazy she is.
We had 57 Senators in 1991 and we couldn't block Clarence fucking Thomas!! Are we really going to do it with 44??
I'm really glad to see Senator Kerry going to bat with us over this one, and I pray to God that he is successful. However, with 3 Dems now on the record as planning to vote "yes" on Alito (Byrd, B. Nelson, Johnson) and several others publicly stating that they will not support a filibuster, what chances do we have, realistically?