Parties hope filibuster will ignite supporters

WASHINGTON — Cots have been ordered set up in the heart of the Capitol. Senators are lining up for TV and radio interviews all night long. Both parties are designing "war rooms" just off the Senate floor.

While both parties hope tonight’s Senate talkathon will mobilize their political bases, the contestants already know the winner: the status quo.

Senate Republican leaders are preparing to stage a 30-hour marathon debate from tonight through midnight Thursday to highlight Democratic efforts to block President Bush’s judicial choices. As Congress wraps up its work, the leaders plan to take time out to focus attention on Democrats’ use of procedural tactics to stonewall a handful of nominees.

The war of words is expected to be followed with votes on as many as four judicial nominees opposed by Democrats and on a plan by Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., to prevent indefinite "filibusters" of nominees.

The U.S. Appeals Court nominees are Alabama Attorney General William Pryor, Texas judge Priscilla Owen, Mississippi judge Charles Pickering and Hispanic lawyer Miguel Estrada.

It is the culmination of a year of bickering between the parties over the federal bench. Democrats argue that Bush has nominated ultraconservatives outside the mainstream, and Republicans charge that Democrats are overstepping the Constitution and blocking qualified nominees.

Instead of one senator trying to talk for the full 30 hours, the two sides will split the time and trade shifts so there will be a senator from each party on the floor at all times.

For example, a Republican will talk from 3 a.m. to 3:30 a.m., while a Democrat watches. They’ll switch roles for the next 30 minutes and then head home to bed, replaced by two others for the next shift lasting as little as one hour.

Republicans hope to spark public outrage about the Democrats’ refusal to allow votes on Bush’s choices for the bench.

Democrats say they will use their half of the time to spotlight Bush’s handling of the economy, which they charge is responsible for the loss of 3 million jobs. Bush’s is the first administration since Herbert Hoover’s in which the economy has lost jobs.