"Marriage Amendment": What IS A "Resounding Defeat"?

I received an email from Human Rights Campaign, as to the defeat of the proposed Constitutional Amendment on marriage, with the following headline: "A Resounding Defeat of Discrimination in the Senate"

The article went on to state: "In the battle for fairness, the Federal Marriage Amendment suffered a resounding defeat this morning in the U.S. Senate."

That prodded the following email to HRC:


49-48 in favor of discriminatory hatred and you call that a "Resounding Defeat"?

Methinks you should have your drinking water analyzed. That's still a majority for the Fred Phelps camp.

TLC
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Which garnered this reply...which doesn't really address my point:

Dear Terry,
Thank you for your email to HRC. As a matter of fact, HRC picked up two votes from Senators who voted FOR the amendment two years ago. Senator Arlen Specter from Pennsylvania, and Senator Judd Gregg from New Hampshire, both Republicans. Three senators abstained from voting, Christopher Dodd, Chuck Hagel, and John Rockefeller, two of whom we are fairly certain would have voted against the amendment. Another thing to note is that this particular vote was a vote on cloture, which needed 60 votes to proceed, not a simple majority. We are pleased with the outcome, and are turning our sights onto the House vote, which is expected to come up later this summer. I hope this helps clarify some things, please do not hesitate to contact me personally if you have further questions.

Regards,

Karl Bach, Field Intern, Human Rights Campaign