While only 3 senators voted against confirming Kerry, 13 voted against Condi Rice back in 2005!

[alp227]

Per Wikipedia:

On November 16, 2004, Bush nominated Rice to be Secretary of State. On January 26, 2005, the Senate confirmed her nomination by a vote of 85–13. The negative votes, the most cast against any nomination for Secretary of State since 1825, came from Senators who, according to Senator Barbara Boxer, wanted "to hold Dr. Rice and the Bush administration accountable for their failures in Iraq and in the war on terrorism." Their reasoning was that Rice had acted irresponsibly in equating Saddam's regime with Islamist terrorism and some could not accept her previous record. Senator Robert Byrd voted against Rice's appointment, indicating that she "has asserted that the President holds far more of the war power than the Constitution grants him."

An AP report at the time (also I added it to the wiki page) reported:

Through history, no nominee for secretary of state has been defeated in the Senate. Many have had little or no opposition and were confirmed without recorded votes. Only one, Henry Clay in 1825, received more recorded no votes than Rice, according to the Senate historian’s office. Clay was confirmed by a vote of 27-14.

More recently, Henry Kissinger was approved 78-7, Dean Acheson 83-6 and Alexander Haig 93-6.

And Colin Powell was unanimously confirmed in 2001. Before anyone brings up Susan Rice, keep in mind that Rice actually chose to withdraw before a full Senate vote.

All the nay votes, from Senate Roll Call vote 2 from 1/26/05:

Akaka (D-HI)
Bayh (D-IN)
Boxer (D-CA)
Byrd (D-WV)
Dayton (D-MN)
Durbin (D-IL)
Harkin (D-IA)
Jeffords (I-VT)
Kennedy (D-MA)
Kerry (D-MA)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Levin (D-MI)
Reed (D-RI)

CERTAINLY a better lineup of senators than Inhofe, Coburn, and Cruz! And RIP Kennedy and Byrd. Jeffords was a Republican before 2001 and began caucusing with the Democrats that year; he retired in 2006. Bayh retired in 2010, and the senator who preceded him (Dan Coats) came out of retirement and was elected to his seat in the Tea Party wave of 2010. Kerry, well you know the deal. Mark Dayton was elected governor of Minnesota in 2010.