Senate Democrats ended their three-month standoff yesterday, providing the votes needed to confirm Gov. Tom Ridge's political ally, Thomas W. Corbett Jr., as attorney general.

"It is a great honor to have the confidence of the Senate in my abilities, and to place me as the attorney general of Pennsylvania," Corbett said. "It will be a privilege to serve in that position for the 15 months remaining in this term."

Yesterday's 39-7 vote was seen as a warming of the frosty relations between the Ridge administration and Senate Democrats, who blocked the Corbett nomination to illustrate to Ridge their displeasure over being shut out of last year's budget negotiations.