Though it’s not yet available, word has it that a bill to revive the REAL ID Act has been introduced in the Senate.

Its sponsors are an unlikely group: Senators Akaka (D‑HI), Tester (D‑MT), Baucus (D‑MT), Carper (D‑CT), Leahy (D‑VT), and Voinovich (R‑OH). REAL ID was dead in the water, but with a name change and a few burrs taken off, these five senators may just give it life once again.

Watch this space for posts as I analyze the bill and the politics. I’ll examine closely the substance of the “PASS ID Act.” I’ll try to figure out how both Senators from Montana — a state that rejected REAL ID flat out — became leaders in the fight to revive it.

More on the politics: As the stars lined up for repealing REAL ID outright, the Senate negotiated a compromise … with nobody. And I’ll look at something everyone is studiously ignoring — whether a national ID (by any name!) would actually do any good for the country!