Although it seems that the ethics bill is dead and this afternoon’s cloture vote this afternoon is all about message, one contact just informed us that the Democrats and Republicans are actually close to a deal.

The vote is scheduled to take place between 3 and 6. If they do come to an agreement, the bill should be finished tomorrow.

If it does go through, we are still hoping — though it is a long shot — that the managers will accept a combination of language that requires the Senate to come up with a way to get personal financial disclosure reports online. We hear that Senator Cardin will be working to get this in a manager’s amendment.

Republican support for making required personal financial disclosure statements available on the Internet would really help at that stage.