Yesterday I wrote about the procedural obstruction in th Senate as it pertains to the confirmation of judges. In a nutshell, I pointed out that forming a new “Gang of 14″ would be useless; that the only thing that would help get Obama’s nominees confirmed in a timely manner would be to deploy the nuclear option.

That’s because one Senator, as we saw with Jim Bunning, can shut down the entire chamber for almost a full week if they oppose a vote. The Senator refuses to join a “unanimous consent” motion and triggers a thirty hour period of debate before the Senate can vote to have a vote. Once that hurdle is cleared, there’s another 30 hours of debate before the final up or down vote can occur. So one judge, not counting committee hearings, etc, can take up 60 hours of Senate floor time. And since Republicans have been in the minority, that has been the norm.

Well, after nearly a year of this, Democrats are growing pretty tired of it. For a while now, we’ve been hearing things about filibuster reform, but for the most part, the calls have come from more liberal Senators like Harkin, Durbin and Schumer.

Well… Filibuster reform is not just for “radicals” anymore. Kent Conrad, a conservative Democrat by any measure, joins the chorus: