Senate Democrats held their caucus today, and as VPR reports, voted to give John Campbell another shot. Campbell got 15 votes; challenger Ann Cummings got six.

The vote followed Campbell’s very belated mea culpas:

“There were a lot of shortcomings in my first term here as pro tem. I won’t back away from them; I’m not going to make excuses for them,” he said. “But I can tell you this, I certainly learned from them.”

Cummings was unimpressed by his deathbed conversion:

I’ve listened to the other candidate and he’s given us an impressive list of what he did wrong and a promise that he’ll change. But to change almost requires a personality change.”

It certainly took him a good long while to learn from his shortcomings. Ever since the Senate limped to its belated adjournment in a cloud of acrimony, Campbell had consistently blamed others for his inability to effectively control the Senate’s proceedings. But in recent days, he changed his tune; presumably his pre-caucus vote tallying revealed that he didn’t have quite as many friends as he thought.

We’ll see if his promises turn into action, and Campbell morphs into an effective leader in his second go-round. Color me skeptical.