Congress Watch: Democrats' failure to slow Alito boosts White House
White House insiders say the failure of Democrats to undermine Samuel Alito's nomination to the Supreme Court has lifted the spirits of President Bush and his advisers. White House strategists had feared that the Alito hearings would be much tougher than they were, but Senate Democrats never got much traction on any issue and the judge now seems headed for a relatively comfortable majority of perhaps 60 Senate votes within a few weeks.
"What the Alito situation tells us is that the process is still weighted heavily toward the president's nominee," says a prominent Republican who helped devise the strategy for winning Alito's confirmation. "If the president pushes hard for his choice, the nominee is highly likely to be confirmed unless the person blows up in the process. The Democrats always try to demonize a Republican nominee, but it's like the boy who cried wolf. The public doesn't share those fears."
Of course, it's a great advantage that the Senate is controlled by Republicans who tend to unite behind their president. And one important thing that Bush learned is that the public expects any Supreme Court nominee to have strong experience in the law or on the bench — something that White House counsel Harriet Miers lacked. Her nomination was withdrawn, and Alito was next in line.
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