Why Harry Reid did a good job:
- Bush accepts a nominee Ried puts forward.
- The Dems can tear into Miers, specifically in relation to issues which involve the current Bush administration.
- They can still come out clean, by voting Miers into the Supreme Court and not looking like sellouts, as happened with Roberts.
- There's no doubt that parts of the conservative vote bank will stay at home this time next year - because it'll be too soon to label Miers a success from their point of view. Unless...
A Terry Schiavo like question comes up before the court in between now and next year? On the regular cases to be heard before the court, I feel that there won't be any dramatic turnaround in the short-term. But if something new pops up, you can be sure that Miers will be there on Bush's side. Imagine if the Terry Schiavo issue had been taken up, and Miers had the deciding vote - Well, nothing much left to imagine.
Soooo, whether we win the elections in 2006 or not depends on whether or not it falls upon Miers to make a crucial and dramatic decision between now and then. Will it come to that? Time will tell. Harry Reid took a gamble with this recommendation. But it opens up a possible new margin in voter turnout. Kudos to Reid for having the courage to gamble with the fortunes of the Democratic party.