Decision Day

Today is the day John Roberts is expected to be confirmed as the next Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court. I figure that the final tally will be 72-28, though I am on the record as saying 71-28 with one abstention (Kerry), which would follow his pattern of action while in the Senate. This way he could say that he didn't vote against Roberts when attacking President Bush's next nominee who could be named after Roberts is confirmed by the Senate and sworn in by the President.

Who do you think will be the nominee.

Whoever it is, expect a rough confirmation process because that's all that the Democrats have to run on. Qualifications are meaningless in this debate. The ability to discuss the law is besides the point. It is all about beating up on a nominee because they will not say how they will vote on a particular issue, despite the fact that precedent in confirmation hearings has been not to discuss issues that could appear before the court in the future.

UPDATE:
78-22 Confirming. C-SPAN has the vote breakdown:
Accepted by a vote of 78-22:
Republicans 55-0
Democrats 22-22
Independent 1

UPDATE:
Here's the breakdown of how the Democrats voted:
How the Dems voted below the fold.

Democrats voting Yes:

Max Baucus of Montana
Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico
Robert Byrd of West Virginia
Tom Carper of Delaware
Kent Conrad of North Dakota
Christopher Dodd of Connecticut
Byron Dorgan of North Dakota
Russ Feingold of Wisconsin
Tim Johnson of South Dakota
Herb Kohl of Wisconsin
Mary Landrieu of Louisiana
Patrick Leahy of Vermont
Carl Levin of Michigan
Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut
Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas
Patty Murray of Washington
Ben Nelson of Nebraska
Bill Nelson of Florida
Mark Pryor of Arkansas
Ken Salazar of Colorado
Ron Wyden of Oregon

James Jeffords (I) of Vermont

Democrats voting no:
Daniel Akaka of Hawaii
Evan Bayh of Indiana
Joseph Biden of Delaware
Barbara Boxer of California
Maria Cantwell of Washington
Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York
Jon Corzine of New Jersey
Mark Dayton of Minnesota
Dick Durbin of Illinois
Dianne Feinstein of California
Tom Harkin of Iowa
Daniel Inouye of Hawaii
Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts
John Kerry of Massachusetts
Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey
Barbara Mikulski of Maryland
Barack Obama of Illinois
Harry Reid of Nevada
Charles Schumer of New York
Debbie Stabenow of Michigan
Jack Reed of Rhode Island
Paul Sarbanes of Maryland