Taegan Goddard's Political Wire

January 13, 2006

Alito Likely to be Confirmed

Judge Samuel Alito "appeared headed for the high court yesterday after completing three days of interrogation without a serious misstep," the Washington Post reports.

"Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee made a final stab at challenging Alito on presidential powers, the death penalty and other matters. But their efforts sometimes seemed halfhearted, and even the most liberal advocacy groups acknowledged privately that they saw slim hopes of preventing his confirmation later this month in the full Senate, where Republicans hold 55 of the 100 seats."

The New York Times says that even though many Democrats will vote against Alito, many indicated "that they saw little chance of blocking his confirmation, even with a filibuster."

Nonetheless, the Wall Street Journal says Senators and activists "braced for a close vote, largely because of heightened partisan politics heading toward November's midterm elections and Judge Alito's positions on abortion rights and counterterrorism surveillance."

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Taegan D. Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country, including the Washington Post, USA Today, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer and Christian Science Monitor.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

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