"Marginal Win"

That's how Lambert at Corrente puts it (and I went there because the good folks at Corrente often offer some much-needed perspective), citing that it's a big loss for Bush and Frist:

So, all in all, a marginal win for our guys, but a win:
1. No rules changes (at least this session) by 51 votes.
2. Frist is going to be hung out to dry by Dobson because he couldn't deliver on all the nominees (see Drum, it looks like there's an unwritten codicil that not all the judges go through.
3. Bush gets slammed for not consulting in advance: That means the Republicans have no stomach for a brutal fight on Rehnquist's replacement.
4. Bush couldn't muscle 51 Republican votes. Quack, quack.

NOTE: Yeah, the judges, the judges. But ya know? Sometimes they do grow in office. After all Judge Greer in the Schiavo case was a good man, in addition to being a Republican and a Southern Baptist.