Greg Sargent gets the answers from Sens. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Susan Collins (R-ME) that I’ve been seeking for weeks. The two both say they remain undecided about the nomination of Dawn Johnsen to head the Office of Legal Counsel.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said yesterday that he’d need “a couple” Republicans to cross the line before he could move Johnsen’s confirmation to the floor, as Greg notes, this suggests her nomination’s simply stalled–not dead in the water.
But here’s the corollary to that.
Johnsen already has one Republican supporter–her home state senator, Richard Lugar of Indiana. At the same time, there are now 59 members in the Democratic caucus. One plus 59 equals 60. Enough to overcome a filibuster. Which means Reid’s really saying that at least one Democrat is signaling his intent to join a Johnsen filibuster.
As I’ve noted before, Sen. Ben Nelson (R-NE) isn’t a Johnsen fan, but his office strongly suggested to me that he wouldn’t participate in a filibuster. That leaves the other anti-Johnsen Democrat, Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA), who’s on the record opposing her, though he’s never really explained why, or whether he’d support a filibuster of her confirmation.
It’s possible, I suppose, that there’s another, lurking, secret Johnsen opponent in the Democratic caucus. But assuming that’s not true, it suggests Reid and the Obama administration have been unable to enforce party unity on the idea that he should get an up or down vote on all of his nominees. Whether it’s Specter or not (and I’ve put that question to his staff) the 59th Democratic vote may not be necessary. But it’s been months now since Johnsen was nominated, and the fact that party leaders can’t count on all the members of the caucus to not to filibuster their own President’s nominee presents a real conundrum for them.
