WASHINGTON ---- Sen. Ted Stevens' drive to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling failed in the Senate on Wednesday when he fell several votes short of the 60 votes he needed to avoid a filibuster.

The vote was 56-44.

Nine hours of uncertainty followed as Senate leaders tried to find a way to finish the remaining bills they had to pass before going home for the year, and it wasn't clear until late in the evening that ANWR drilling wouldn't resurface.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist finally announced just before 9 p.m. a plan, and ANWR wasn't part of it.

Stevens, R-Alaska, was furious. "This has been the saddest day of my life," he said after the Senate voted 48-45 to strip ANWR from the annual defense spending bill. "It's a day I don't want to remember, and I'm sorry to see it come to (this) end."

He had outraged many Democrats and a few Republicans last weekend by hitching ANWR, a controversy that has raged for more than 20 years, to the must-pass military spending bill. That bill had $453 billion for the Defense Department, plus $29 billion for Hurricane Katrina victims, money to combat avian flu and more than $2 billion to help poor people pay their energy bills.

It passed unanimously once the Arctic drilling section was removed.

Stevens fumed at his colleagues, telling them that in throwing out ANWR, they were also rejecting ANWR revenues, and the bill had dedicated them to good causes. He described mountains of cash they were passing up: $3.1 billion for border security, $2 billion to help poor families pay their energy bills, $1 billion for farmers and ranchers. Most of all, he said, the hurricane-damaged Gulf states would lose out, he said, because a major portion of ANWR revenues were to go into a Gulf recovery fund.

Earlier in the day, Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., said he hesitated to talk about the need in his hurricane-damaged state, lest he become too emotional.

"We need this so desperately, and we need it now," he said. He was heading to Biloxi for his annual speech to the Chamber of Commerce, he said.

"If we don't get this bill done, I cannot go home and face those people," Lott said.

Stevens accused ANWR opponents of not knowing what was in the bill, and he pledged that he wouldn't let their constituents forget.

"I'm going to go to every one of your states, and I'm going to tell them what you've done!" he said. "And I'm sure the senator from Washington will enjoy my visits to Washington, because I'm going to visit there often. This was wrong!"

Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., who faces re-election next year, led the opposition to Arctic drilling. She and other Democrats had complained that Stevens, in attaching ANWR to the defense bill, was violating Senate rules. At issue was Rule 28, forbidding the addition of new items to a bill at the last stage, just before it goes back to both chambers for final passage. It is common practice, but usually the newly inserted items have enough support that no one challenges them.

Stevens had expected the Senate parliamentarian would conclude that the ANWR section did, in fact, violate Rule 28, and he had hoped to overturn that ruling with a majority vote.

Some of the harshest condemnation of Stevens' strategy Wednesday came from Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., a recognized master of the Senate rules. Byrd said if senators voted with Stevens, nothing would stop a Senate majority from doing it again and again, weakening the Senate itself.

"Hear me, my colleagues, on both sides of the aisle: I abhor, I abhor, I abhor this idea. Shame!" Byrd said.

He and Stevens, he noted, have been friends for ages, from their years together on the Appropriations Committee. Byrd, 88, is the Senate's most senior Democrat, and Stevens, 82, the most senior Republican.

"I love this man from Alaska. I do. I love him. I feel that my blood in my veins is with his blood. I love him," Byrd said in his speech. "But I love the Senate more."

Stevens insisted he wasn't breaking any rules, just using them. He also reminded the Democrats of the many times they came to him, when he was chairman of the Appropriations Committee, seeking help for their states.

"Let me tell you: I'm not a fair-weather friend," he said. "I've not turned down one person on that side of the aisle in my life without trying to help."

He said he was moved by the damage he saw when he visited the hurricane-ravaged states, and he devised a plan to help them -- only to be accused of using the hurricane to win votes for ANWR.

"In the last month or two months, I've been pilloried by almost every newspaper in this country because of what's been said on this floor," he said. "I've been called a liar. I've been told I violated the rules. I've been told I did things in the middle of the night when no one knew it."

Even his grandchildren asked his son about the accusations, he said

"I ask the Senate, is that right? Should I lose the reputation I've gotten for 37 years in the Senate?" he asked. "No one's ever questioned my integrity before this year."

There was "a little thing, an ethics matter, up in my state but that, too, was misunderstood," he said, referring to news reports in 2003 about his personal investments.

He said he'd never asked for their votes in return for that help, but he said he was "drawing a line now with a lot of people I've worked with before."

"I really am. I really am," he said, his voice wavering. "I can't put (out of) my mind the amount of time, the days I spent with you, working on your problems, and to know you've said about me the things you've said in the last two months."

He said he was going home to think about what to do next year. "I say goodbye to the Senate tonight," he concluded. "Thank you very much." Some observers wondered if he was saying he was resigning, but an aide said she thought he was just saying he was tired and going home.

Two Republicans -- Sens. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island and Mike DeWine of Ohio -- voted with most of the Democrats to block Arctic drilling. All of them, Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., said later, were "fighting one of the most powerful senators there is, ... saying to him, with all respect, the way he was trying to do this was just plain wrong."

Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., supports ANWR drilling and was disappointed that her state lost some of the money that would have been dedicated for her region. But, she said, the bill still had $29 billion for hurricane aid that was independent of ANWR.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said Stevens had done an excellent job and the fight wasn't over.

"We have a commitment from congressional leaders that we will consider ANWR again next year," she said.

Daily News reporter Liz Ruskin can be reached at lruskin@adn.com or 202-383-0007.

How they voted

A yea vote was a vote to strip ANWR drilling from the final defense spending bill.

• YEA (48): Akaka, D-Hawaii; Baucus, D-Mont.; Bayh, D-Ind.; Biden, D-Del.; Bingaman, D-N.M.; Boxer, D-Calif.; Byrd, D-W.V.; Cantwell, D-Wash.; Carper, D-Del.; Clinton, D-N.Y.; Coleman, R-Minn.; Collins, R-Maine; Conrad, D-N.D.; Dayton, D-Minn.; DeWine, R-Ohio.; Dorgan, D-N.D.; Durbin, D-Ill.; Feingold, D-Wis.; Feinstein, D-Calif.; Inouye, D-Hawaii.; Jeffords, I-Vt.; Johnson, D-S.D.; Kennedy, D-Mass.; Kerry, D-Mass.; Kohl, D-Wis.; Lautenberg, D-N.J.; Leahy, D-Vt.; Levin, D-MI.; Lieberman, D-Conn.; Lincoln, D-Ariz.; Lugar, R-Ind.; Mikulski, D-Md.; Murray, D-Wash.; Nelson, D-Fla.; Nelson, D-N.E.; Obama, D-Ill.; Pryor, D-Ariz.; Reed, D-R.I.; Reid, D-Nev.; Rockefeller, D-W.V.; Salazar, D-Colo.; Sarbanes, D-Md.; Schumer, D-N.Y.; Smith, R-Ore.; Snowe, R-Maine; Specter, R-Pa.; Stabenow, D-Mich.; Wyden, D-Ore.

• Nay (45): Alexander, R-Tenn.; Allard, R-Colo.; Allen, R-Va.; Bennett, R-Utah; Bond, R-Mo.; Brownback, R-Kan.; Bunning, R-Ky.; Burns, R-Mont.; Burr, R-N.C.; Chambliss, R-Ga.; Coburn, R-Okla.; Cochran, R-Miss.; Cornyn, R-Texas; Craig, R-Idaho.; Crapo, R-Idaho; Dole, R-N.C.; Domenici, R-N.M.; Ensign, R-Nev.; Enzi, R-Wyo.; Frist, R-Tenn.; Graham, R-S.C.; Grassley, R-Iowa.; Hagel, R-Neb.; Hatch, R-Utah.; Hutchison, R-Texas.; Inhofe, R-Okla.; Isakson, R-Ga.; Kyl, R-Ariz.; Landrieu, D-La.; Lott, R-MS.; Martinez, R-Fla.; McConnell, R-Ky.; Murkowski, R-Alaska.; Roberts, R-Kan.; Santorum, R-Pa.; Sessions, R-Ala.; Shelby, R-Ala.; Stevens, R-Alaska.; Sununu, R-N.H.; Talent, R-Mo.; Thomas, R-Wyo.; Thune, R-S.D.; Vitter, R-La.; Voinovich, R-Ohio.; Warner, R-Va.