Senate Republicans last night blocked a plan to give US troops in Iraq more home leave.
The measure to give troops as much rest time at home as they spent on their most recent tour overseas needed 60 votes to pass in the Democratic-controlled Senate, but it received just 56 votes, with 44 against.
The proposal was widely seen as the Democrats' best near-term chance to change President George W. Bush's Iraq strategy.
It had been offered by Senator Jim Webb, a decorated Vietnam veteran and former Navy secretary. The Democrat said US troops are being "burned out" by repeated redeployments to Iraq, with tours of up to 15 months and less than a year off in between.
The plan was strongly opposed by the Bush administration, however. Pentagon Secretary Robert Gates called it a backdoor attempt to pull troops off the battlefield in the unpopular Iraq war, and said he would recommend Mr Bush veto the bill if it passed. A similar bill has passed the House.
Democrats have struggled all year to pass legislation winding down the Iraq war, and they have other proposals waiting in the wings, including some that explicitly require combat troop pullouts.
But these are considered even less likely than Mr Webb's to get any time soon the 60 votes often required to advance under Senate rules.