As you may already know, President Bush today signed into law the bill that keeps the expiring portions of the Voting Rights Act on the books for another 25 years.

But what's been more surprising has been the speed with which the bill moved through the Senate last week. That story illustrates how Congress can do amazing things in an election year.

If you look at the surface of last week's overwhelming vote by the House in favor of extending the protections of the Voting Rights Act, you would think that everything was all right.  Despite the presence of four amendments that would weaken the act, the House actually got a higher number of members to support reauthorization this time around (390) than it did 24 years ago (389).  Even today's Roll Call signaled an easier time in the Senate:  "VRA Moves Into Calmer Waters
Senators Expect Smooth Sailing," the headline over today's story read.

But then consider this: The House vote flew in the face of Speaker Dennis Hastert's plan to move only legislation supported by a majority of the 230-member House Republican caucus. It's true that a majority of both parties voted to pass the bill, but a majority of Republicans supported each of the amendments that would have seriously damaged, if not gutted, the Voting Rights Act. Only a strong showing of House Democrats' discipline kept the amendments out of the bill.