Ben Bernanke's embattled nomination to a second term as US Federal Reserve chief has survived a critical procedural vote, setting him on course to narrow but nearly certain confirmation.
Senators voted 77-23 to end a bitter nomination debate that saw critics charge Bernanke with being asleep at the switch ahead of the global financial meltdown of 2008 or sponsoring an excessive government response to the crisis.
The final confirmation vote was expected to be significantly closer: some senators said they would not block the nomination but planned to vote against Bernanke amid deep election-year voter anger at the sour US economy.
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