So the filibuster issue is resolved, for now. Personally I would have liked to see everything come to a full head now rather than being left, potentially, for a Supreme Court fight. But the compromise certainly isn't a bad outcome. The Dems let in some judges they don't like; the GOP played a major hand -- the religious conservatives -- and lost.

Plainly, the main fallout here is that the fault line between religious conservatives and political conservatives is now wider -- and more apparent -- than ever before. At the least, Dobson certainly never said anything like this during the Shiavo case:

This Senate agreement represents a complete bailout and betrayal by a cabal of Republicans and a great victory for united Democrats. Only three of President Bush’s nominees will be given the courtesy of an up-or-down vote, and it's business as usual for all the rest...

We are grateful to Majority Leader Frist for courageously fighting to defend the vital principle of basic fairness. That principle has now gone down to defeat. We share the disappointment, outrage and sense of abandonment felt by millions of conservative Americans who helped put Republicans in power last November. I am certain that these voters will remember both Democrats and Republicans who betrayed their trust.

Look at that last paragraph in particular. For anyone still wondering whether Dobson's crew threw itself behind Bush or the GOP, Dobson just came out and said that he and his supporters ally themselves with individuals, not parties.

That, in itself, makes the compromise a huge victory for the Democrats. Frist no longer has a shot in 2008, meaning a good many of Dobson's sympathizers will simply stay home -- and while the size of Dobson's base is generally exaggerated in the press, it is at least around the 3 million that the Dems lost by.

But the biggest victor? Constitutional governance in general, and all those -- left or right -- who favor it.