No Delay on Gonzales, But the Dem Strategy Continues

There was talk during the day that Democrats might launch a filibuster against the Gonzales nomination, but that seems to be dead. The Democrats apparently counted "no" votes and came up short of the 41 they needed for a filibuster:

The minority Democrats briefly considered but quickly abandoned procedural delays to prevent a vote on Gonzales. Instead, they railed against President Bush's top lawyer for his role in administration legal policies that they said allowed the torture of detainees in Iraq.

. . . .

Ultimately, Democrats concluded they had neither the votes nor the political stomach to block confirmation of Gonzales, who would be the first Hispanic to hold the nation's highest law enforcement office.

The distribution of the votes against Gonzales may be more interesting than the number of votes against. It will be interesting to see how many Democrats who are up for re-election in 2006, especially in "red" states, vote against Gonzales. These "no" votes may prove to be a double-albatross for the "no" voters in their general elections: (1) in favor of the "be kind to terrorists" policy; and (2) against the nomination of the first Hispanic Attorney General.

It will also be noteworthy to see if the potential 2008 Democrat Presidential candidates all vote "no" on Gonzales as they did on Rice.