Senate confirmation hearings promise drama

[maseman]

Will Democrats impose consensus attorney general nominee on Bush?

WASHINGTON - Dramatic enough in itself, the announcement Monday morning that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales had resigned also set the stage for what may be one of most contentious confirmation hearings since the Senate rejected John Tower as defense secretary in 1989.

Tower’s defeat at the hands of a Democratic-controlled Senate was the last time any president has had a Cabinet nominee voted down, an event that has happened only 12 times since the republic began.


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As for the implications for the 2008 campaign, only one Democratic presidential contender serves on the Judiciary Committee, Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, who so often in the past has played a high-profile role in confirmation hearings, from Robert Bork in 1987 to Samuel Alito last year.