The one thing that can confidently be said about the Potomac Primary is that, for a trio of U.S. senators, it was convenient. The senators could participate in last minute primary campaigning but still be present to do their day jobs on Capitol Hill. And that was no small thing today when the senate was considering the future of American intelligence collection — with the temporaty authorization for spying on America’s enemies overseas due to expire this Saturday.

So what are we to make of Sen. Hillary Clinton not bothering to show up for any of it? She’s got something more important to do than tell us where she stands on overhauling our intelligence law?

Kudos to Sen. McCain for making sure he was there and voting to preserve these powers. And hats off to Sen. Obama. He showed that he’s not fit to be commander-in-chief by voting against every sensible surveillance authority, but at least he voted and boldly put his views in front of the American people.

Where was Hillary? She had a lot to say about Obama, as an Illionois state legislator, voting “present” rather than taking a position on tough issues. But today was as important a set of votes as there has been since she’s been in the senate. They involved issues that go to the core of her fitness to be president, and she decided she had better things to do than her job.