Bush makes blocked judges a key issue

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Originally published 12:19 a.m., July 12, 2004, updated 12:00 a.m., July 12, 2004

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President Bush has decided that excoriating Democrats for blocking his judicial nominees is a potent political strategy that he will exploit in both the presidential race and congressional elections.

The Bush campaign thinks the Democratic ticket of Sens. John Kerry and John Edwards is particularly vulnerable on this issue because Mr. Edwards sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

"It's just another example of how they stand out of the mainstream," said Mathew Dowd, the Bush campaign's chief strategist. "They stand out in blocking judges that have been highly qualified in various states."

He added: "We will talk about it more in the months ahead."

Mr. Bush first resurrected the issue last week, when visiting Mr. Edwards' home state of North Carolina. The president met with his judicial nominees in that state and then railed against the two Democratic candidates for preventing them from getting up-or-down votes in the Senate or, in some cases, even hearings by the Judiciary Committee.

"They're the ones blocking the nominees in the first place," Mr. Bush said. "Take for example here in North Carolina. Senator Edwards will not allow two of the nominees to whom I referred to even get to the committee for a hearing."

Mr. Bush then traveled to Michigan, where he met with another batch of blocked nominees and renewed his criticism of Democrats.

It is a strategy that paid dividends in the midterm elections of 2002, when aggressive campaigning by Mr. Bush led Republicans to historic victories. At almost every stump appearance, the president talked about judges.

"There's no doubt in my mind that we won races all throughout the country" on the issue, White House political strategist Karl Rove told The Washington Times earlier this year. "We won the Senate race in South Carolina -- judges; won the North Carolina race -- judges; won the Georgia race -- judges."

Mr. Rove said voters responded enthusiastically whenever Mr. Bush invoked the issue.

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