WASHINGTON – Failed presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry wants to filibuster Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito, it was reported yesterday – leaving many Democrats scratching their heads.
Top Democratic Senate aides say the stunning move is Kerry’s splash back onto the national stage in hopes of picking up support of the Bush-hating MoveOn.org crowd for another bid on the White House in 2008.
News of the maneuver by Kerry (D-Mass.) came on the same day he refused to rule out another presidential bid.
CNN reported Kerry, who is in Switzerland attending the Davos conference, supports a filibuster and is now calling other Democrats, including Sen. Ted Kennedy, to try and get them to climb aboard.
It was unclear if Kerry himself actually intends to take to the Senate floor in a marathon to block the confirmation vote on Alito or is merely scoring points with his base.
In any event, Republicans need 60 votes to kill a filibuster – and Democrats concede they don’t have the 41 votes needed to sustain it.
Meanwhile, Democratic aides slammed the move as tone-deaf – a key complaint against Kerry during his butchered bid against President Bush in 2004.
Republicans were giddy over Kerry’s filibuster push.
“He just cinched this whole nomination. He put the bow on it,” said a beaming Don Stewart, spokesman for Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a member of the Judiciary Committee.