| Wednesday, July 06, 2005 |
| You're the man ... no, YOU're the man... |
Some in the Senate are ignoring the Freepers and still pushing for Alberto Gonzales as a SupCo nominee anyway. The pro-Gonzales camp notes that he has already survived a confirmation vote, with the support of six Democrats (Landrieu (La.), Lieberman (Conn.), Ben Nelson (Neb.), Bill Nelson (Fla.), Mark Pryor (Ark.) and Ken Salazar (Colo.). And let's face it, naming an Hispanic to the High Court still poses an attractive legacy option for the purportedly anti-affirmative action GOP... Among them are Texas Sen. John Cornyn, who ironically, is getting a little buzz as a potential nominee himself. Redstate.org posts the scenario from WSJ's John Fund:
As a sitting senator, it would be difficult for Democrats to filibuster [Senator Cornyn], especially since his voting record is clearly not extreme. Yet he's nonetheless considered a solid conservative and at age 53 would likely be on the court for a generation. Meanwhile, the departure from the Senate of Mr. Cornyn would also open up a vacancy that Texas Governor Rick Perry, an old Bush ally, would likely fill with Rep. Henry Bonilla, the only Hispanic GOP congressman in Texas. Mr. Bonilla was already raising money for a possible Senate run in 2006 in case Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison had decided to retire and run for governor. The betting now is that Mr. Bonilla could easily win the special election that would be called a few months after he was named to the seat.
That would give the GOP two Hispanic Senators to the Dems lone Black one (at least until Harold Ford graduates up from the House...). The GOP is likely doing the electoral math, and realizing that 41 billion Hispanic potential voters trumps a few million angry Freepers...
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posted by JReid @ 1:42 PM   |
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