diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG
index fd7e73c..d9690d1 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG
+++ b/CHANGELOG
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 *SVN*
 
+* Ensure selectors of the form "[href]" (attribute token with no preceding tag name) work properly. Closes #8870. [chao, kangax, Andrew Dupont]
+
 * Performance optimizations for Element#descendantOf. Costliness should no longer be dependent on the difference in depth between the parent and the child. [Andrew Dupont]
 
 * Apply the workaround for the Firefox "blinking element" opacity=1 bug only to Firefox 1.5.  [Thomas Fuchs]
diff --git a/src/selector.js b/src/selector.js
index 56d7745..6b4c8d9 100644
--- a/src/selector.js
+++ b/src/selector.js
@@ -436,6 +436,7 @@ Object.extend(Selector, {
     },    
     
     attrPresence: function(nodes, root, attr) {
+      if (!nodes) nodes = root.getElementsByTagName("*");
       var results = [];
       for (var i = 0, node; node = nodes[i]; i++)
         if (Element.hasAttribute(node, attr)) results.push(node);
diff --git a/test/unit/selector.html b/test/unit/selector.html
index b42b4f5..3ad7664 100644
--- a/test/unit/selector.html
+++ b/test/unit/selector.html
@@ -173,6 +173,15 @@
       assertEnumEqual($('link_1', 'link_2'), $$('a[class~=internal]'));
     }},
     
+    testSelectorWithAttributeAndNoTagName: function() {with(this) {
+      assertEnumEqual($(document.body).select('a[href]'), $(document.body).select('[href]'));
+      assertEnumEqual($$('a[class~="internal"]'), $$('[class~=internal]'));
+      assertEnumEqual($$('*[id]'), $$('[id]'));
+      assertEnumEqual($('checked_radio', 'unchecked_radio'), $$('[type=radio]'));
+      assertEnumEqual($$('*[type=checkbox]'), $$('[type=checkbox]'));
+      assertEnumEqual($('with_title', 'commaParent'), $$('[title]'));
+    }},
+    
     testSelectorWithUniversalAndHyphenTokenizedAttributeValue: function() {with(this) {
       assertEnumEqual([$('item_3')], $$('*[xml:lang|="es"]'));
       assertEnumEqual([$('item_3')], $$('*[xml:lang|="ES"]'));