With the good Senator up for re-election next year, he’ll have some splaining to do, because the base is non too happy with his vote or his explaination.

Sen. Mark Pryor broke ranks with Democrats on Tuesday to oppose a public timeline for withdrawing troops from Iraq, instead proposing that any pullout be kept secret.

Pryor, D-Ark., was one of two Democrats who voted to remove an troop withdrawal timetable from a $122 billion emergency spending bill. The Senate voted 50-48 to keep the language in the bill.

Pryor faced pressure from both flanks to deliver what could have been a pivotal vote in the sharply divided Senate. But defections from Republicans Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and Gordon Smith of Oregon derailed the GOP’s effort to stop the withdrawal plan.

Pryor said Tuesday he would vote for the spending bill on final passage, even if it includes a public timeline for redeployment.

However, Pryor said he will continue to promote an alternative that would keep classified any dates for troop withdrawal in Iraq. With a secret timetable, the military will not signal its intentions to the enemy, he said.

“I’ve actually always been for a timeline, I just want a classified timeline,” he said. “That’s the difference. I’m not comfortable with a public timetable. I just think that, militarily, we’re better off and Iraq is better off if a timetable is classified.”