(CNSNews.com) - The U.S. Senate on Thursday rejected the controversial comprehensive immigration reform bill when supporters couldn't gather the 60 votes required to invoke cloture and end debate on the bill.

With 2008 presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) presiding over the proceedings, senators voted 53-46 against ending debate and voting on the bill. Obama and his Democratic presidential rival Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York both voted for cloture.

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), said the vote means "the bill is dead." Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), however, pledged that "it will come back - it's only a question of when."

The vote marked a stark turnaround from Tuesday, when the Senate voted 64-35 in favor of renewing debate on the measure and its amendments.

During last-minute debate on the bill before the cloture vote began, senators from both sides of the debate credited intense grassroots lobbying campaigns with changing the minds of 18 senators who originally seemed to support the proposal.

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) said the influx of telephone calls and faxes from opponents of the bill had jammed Senate telephone lines.

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) described the fight over the immigration bill as "a war between the American people and their government," adding that the vote on cloture was "about whether or not we're going to listen to the American people."

Reid criticized the outpouring of opposition, saying calls and letters have been "filled with prejudice and hatred and venom." He said he turned one letter over to investigators when it suggested he should enter a witness protection program for supporting the bill.

"I know what's been going on out there," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). "I know the calls that have been made. I know some of the threats that have been made. And yet we have a chance with this bill to really do the right thing."

She said senators and constituents who don't support the measure "don't understand the bill." Feinstein urged her colleagues to vote for cloture because "if we miss this opportunity, there is not likely to be another opportunity in the next few years to fix this."

Recent polling on the legislation shows mixed results. A June CNN/Opinion Research poll found that only 30 percent of respondents supported the bill while 42 percent opposed it. But other polling suggests Americans support a majority of the bills provisions.

Support is high for provisions that would punish employers who hire illegal immigrants, creating a guest worker program, and increased border security, according to a June NBC poll.

But support for a path to legalization for millions of illegal immigrants is lower, with 35 percent in favor of "allowing workers ... to apply for permanent U.S. residency if they return to their home country within eight years and pay additional fines." More than half of respondents opposed that measure.

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