All Eyes on Chafee
Now that the administration is back in gear pushing the Bolton nomination, Sen. Lugar will have quite a decision to make weighing options between holding further hearings or calling for a straight vote.
Reuters reports:
White House officials had first said Bolton's nomination needed to be sent to the Senate again, but later ascertained he had already been renominated. Officials now are discussing whether the committee should hold a hearing on him or simply seek a vote, Perino said.
Though there will likely be a hearing, as indicated by some others, the real question is whether the administration and Sen. Lugar will allow for a substantive debate to unfold over Bolton’s track record this past year at the U.N. or whether they will maximize this opportunity with the recent shift in votes.
Sen. Voinovich has made his decision clear with his op-ed this morning – he’s switching his vote to Bolton which means the pivot moves to another reluctant swing voter: Lincoln Chafee. This time attention will fall on him. In a fairly provocative post, Steve Clemons writes:
Chafee’s race is shaping up to be one of the most competitive Senate races this year—a moderate constituency not wild about the administration’s maximalist positions (embodied in John Bolton) coupled with a tough Democratic opponent in former Attorney General Sheldon Whitehouse will likely force Chafee to give these hearings some serious consideration.IF SENATOR LINCOLN CHAFEE WANTS TO WIN in Rhode Island, he better reconsider his qualified support of John Bolton last round. The BOLTON VOTE will be blaringly large in the eyes of Rhode Islanders -- all of the other votes on judges and Supreme Court appointments are a blur now -- but Bolton is NOW and Bolton is news.
Lincoln Chafee better get ahead of this one. Last time he was dragged through and became a victim of his indecision -- caught in a vice between Vice President Cheney and the many who were trying to speak to the more enlightened sides of him.
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