Asked if he were sure the nuclear option vote was a done deal, Frist said, "I'm as certain as one can be in this business" - before noting that any one of his colleagues could change his mind at the last minute.

"But I am confident that we have the votes," Frist repeated.

Asked when he would pull the trigger on such a move, the top Republican suggested he wanted to exhaust all possible alternatives first.

"All we really need is a handshake and an agreement" that Democrats will adhere to Senate tradition, Frist said, and stop their unprecedented filibuster of Bush court picks. "It doesn't take a change of rules and it doesn't take a constitutional [nuclear] option."

But he warned, one way or the other, "we're gonna get there."

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