Taegan Goddard's Political Wire

Worth Clicking: Blasts from the past wound Romney


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January 31, 2006

Alito Sworn In

Samuel Alito, "who was confirmed by the Senate on a 58-42 vote this morning, was quickly sworn in as an associate justice of the Supreme Court today, completing a makeover that the Bush administration hopes will turn the nation's highest court in a more conservative direction," the Washington Post reports.

Quick analysis: Had everyone who opposed Alito backed a filibuster, he wouldn't be a Supreme Court Justice today.

Better analysis comes from Rick Hasen, who had earlier predicted Alito would not be confirmed, but now thinks he overestimated both the salience of the abortion issue and "strength and saavy" of the Democratic party. Hasen says Democrats lost much more than this one vote: "Though the 'Gang of 14' agreement has saved the Senate from the nuclear option, it has seriously weakened the Democrats, who apparently won't be able to block any competent Bush nominee to the Supreme Court (should another nomination open up)."

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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-- Larry Sabato, Center for Politics, University of Virginia

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-- Dotty Lynch, CBS News political consultant

"Taegan Goddard has a knack for digging out political gems that too often get passed over by the mainstream press, and for delivering the latest electoral developments in a sharp, no frills style that makes his Political Wire an addictive blog habit you don't want to kick."

-- Arianna Huffington, founder of The Huffington Post

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-- Glenn Reynolds, founder of Instapundit

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-- Dick Morris, political consultant

"I rely on Taegan Goddard's Political Wire for straight, fair political news, he gets right to the point. It's an eagerly anticipated part of my news reading."

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