Before clearing out of town Thursday, the Senate managed to confirm Deborah Tate and Michael Copps as FCC commissioners.

Copps, a Democrat, has been a commissioner since January 2001 and will serve a second five-year term that expires June 30, 2010. Tate, former director of the Tennessee Regulatory Authority, will fill a seat left vacant when Kevin Martin became chairman after Michael Powell left last March. Her term expires June 30, 2007.

The confirmations put the FCC at two Democrats--Copps and Jonathan Adelstein--and two Republicans--Tate and Martin. One more vacancy remains in the wake of Kathleen Abernathy's exit on Dec. 9.