President Barack Obama this week is expected to announce his nominee to replace the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and the White House is ready to activate a full-out media and political blitz to erode GOP resistance,
Politico reports.
According to Politico, Obama campaign veterans are at the ready in states where Republican incumbents are most vulnerable, including New Hampshire, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin — as well as in Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley's Iowa.
"We are building this campaign for the long haul," one unnamed source tells Politico.
"Our No. 1 goal is that Senate Republicans do their job, follow their constitutional responsibility and take up the president's nominee and put that person on the court."
"But if they want a political fight, we're more than willing to accommodate them. And if they maintain this unprecedented obstruction, they can kiss their majority goodbye."
The effort will include progressive organizations, labor leaders, women's groups and black ministers. On Monday, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is releasing a letter from law school deans urging action by the Senate, Politico reports.
The administration and Senate Democrats could even stage mock hearings or photos to embarrass Republicans by highlighting the trouble a nominee has even in trying to talk with lawmakers, Politico reports.
"I wouldn't hesitate to have cameras at the ready to the extent this person is having doors slammed in his face, using that as a way to embarrass the Republicans, but that's different from having the nominee out there chatting about what he'd do as a judge," Indiana University Professor Charles Geyh tells Politico.
Though White House is proceeding carefully when it comes to public appearances of the nominee, the strategy for outside pressure is full-on, Politico reports.
And, will include about 125 outside experts, including legal experts, law school deans, former Supreme Court clerks, officials from previous administrations, former elected officials — dozens of Republicans — civil rights leaders, mayors, union officials, CEOs and environmental leaders, Politico reports.
"The coordinated grassroots effort that has already proven a powerful tool to put pressure on Republicans will only ramp up," Amy Brundage, a former deputy communications director at the White House, tells Politico.
"That includes events in targeted states with real working Americans pushing Senate Republicans to do their jobs, press events with key Democratic members and groups, and coordinated validator pushes like those with the legal scholars, historians and attorneys general."
But conservatives are ready, Politico reports.
"This is just going to push the boundaries," veteran GOP judicial nominations advocate Curt Levey, now with FreedomWorks, tells Politico. "They can certainly make the meetings with Democratic senators into a show — more of a show than it normally is."
Texas GOP Sen. John Cornyn has already planned to turn
Obama's nominee into a piñata and the threat alone could be enough to make potential choices for a nominee to say no, Politico reports.
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