Daschle role in judge fights at issue in S. Dakota race

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For many Republicans, the future of judicial nominations comes down to the Senate race in South Dakota, and whether they can unseat the man who they say has been the major roadblock: Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle.

If the South Dakota Democrat loses his re-election bid to Republican former Rep. John Thune, judicial nominees will have an easier time getting through the Senate because Democrats finally will rethink their strategy of obstruction, Republican senators say.

"They'll begin to discuss whether this was a good plan," said Sen. Jeff Sessions, Alabama Republican and member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. "His defeat would signal people are not happy with it."

Mr. Daschle and Democrats have blocked through filibusters 10 of President Bush's judicial nominees over the course of the 108th Congress.

"A rebuke in South Dakota will send a strong signal to his fellow obstructionists that blocking the president's nominees comes with a price," said Sen. John Cornyn, Texas Republican and another member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

While the issue has popped up on the campaign trail, Mr. Thune hasn't "hammered" it until recently as the race has tightened. The latest Zogby poll, taken in late September, put the race in a virtual dead heat, with Mr. Daschle at 48 percent and Mr. Thune at 46 percent.

It came up as a flash point in a debate between the two candidates on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sept. 19, and Mr. Thune has been bringing it up since then, said Bill Richardson, who chairs the political-science department at the University of South Dakota.

"These people deserve a vote," Mr. Thune told Mr. Daschle during their Sept. 19 debate, referring to judicial nominees that have been blocked.

Mr. Daschle countered that the Senate -- with him as Democratic leader -- has approved 95 percent of Mr. Bush's judicial nominees, and Mr. Thune simply wants to be a "follower" and to "rubber-stamp" everything Mr. Bush requests.

"I will support him when he's right. I will oppose him when he's wrong," Mr. Daschle said during the debate, referring to the president.

Dick Wadhams, Mr. Thune's campaign spokesman, said Mr. Daschle is "the symbol of obstructionism in the U.S. Senate," and that has helped Mr. Thune gain attention not only from South Dakotans, but nationwide.

"We have been very successful in staying financially competitive with Daschle, and one of the reasons has been his obstruction of judges," he said.

But Dan Pfeiffer, a Daschle campaign spokesman, said the obstruction argument is weak, given the 95 percent confirmation figure, and that while Mr. Thune has brought it up at state dinners and with out-of-state donors, he hasn't stressed it otherwise, because he knows it flops with voters.

"It's not something he's used proactively," Mr. Pfeiffer said, adding that the obstruction argument shows that Mr. Thune "isn't running to help the people of South Dakota."

"He's running to help the national Republican Party," Mr. Pfeiffer said.