Kucinich tried to forced a vote on impeachment on the floor of the House today. AfterDowningStreet has followed its development. Here is an brief and edited run-down of what happened:

2:54 p.m. Steny H. Hoyer (D - MD) moves to table (kill) the resolution.

4:02 p.m. Over an hour into this 15 min vote, 78 Dems are voting Nay on tabling, joined by 164 Republicans in an apparent stunt to surprise the Dems and bring the issue to the floor — which the Republicans will regret if the Democrats actually debate it and debate it well (admittedly a remote possibility).

4:14 p.m. The motion to table having failed, Hoyer moved to refer the resolution to the House Judiciary Committee. Kucinich tried to avoid that and get a vote on the resolution, but - unable to do that - asked for a vote on the decision to refer to committee.

4:19 p.m. There is now a 5-min vote underway on whether to refer to the House Judiciary Committee.

4:41 The motion to send it to the Judiciary Committee passed with only about 5 Dems voting No (Filner, Kaptur, Kucinich, Waters, Towns) and 3 Republicans voting Yes. 86 Dems voted No on tabling but Yes on sending it to committee. Only the 5 Dems above put the Constitution ahead of Pelosi and Hoyer. There was no discussion of a time limit for the Judiciary Committee to report back (even though there are precedents for insisting on one with impeachment resolutions). This bill has, of course, ALREADY been in the Judiciary Committee for months, and that committee has done nothing with it.

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The full video of Kucinich presenting the Articles Impeachment is in three parts here, here, and here. Kucinich will introduce new resolutions on Cheney and Bush, while Filner, Kaptur, Waters, and Towns have proved that they are willing to stand up to Pelosi and Hoyer when it really counts. Phone lines on the Hill were apparently jammed from the public phoning in massive numbers.

UPDATE: Kucinich talks with Tucker about the resolution he introduced today. Impeachment isn’t just an option when high crimes and misdemeanors are committed, it’s an obligation. Additionally, democracy isn’t just something that happens every four years, regardless of what Tucker thinks. Kudos congressman for crushing Tucker’s smug side-comments while dismantling his entire attack strategy in a cool and rational way. Kucinich was able to put him on the defensive like Stewart did on Crossfire. For those people who don’t think Kucinich could mop the floor with a Republican candidate if he won the nomination, send them this video.