How fast will White House push Eric Holder replacement? (+video)

Washington Whats going to be the White House strategy to get Eric Holders successor as attorney general confirmed by the Senate? Thats the big question in Washington political circles today following Holders Thursday announcement that hes stepping down.

As with any big Cabinet shuffle, the real interest among politicos and reporters is what comes next, and not what happened during the previous persons tenure. In this case that natural tendency has been intensified by the timing of Holders resignation. Hes quit just weeks before key mid-term elections. Republicans are favored to win control of the Senate, which would give them much more control over the confirmation process for the next attorney general.

The White House has a choice: try to cram Holders successor through the Senate before control might switch hands, or wait and face the possibility of GOP-run confirmation hearings.

President Obamas selection of a nominee and his decision on how quickly to push the Senate for approval will reveal much about how he envisions his relationship with Republicans in his final two years in office, writes The New York Times Carl Hulse this a.m.

Most Senate Democrats appear to be in the hurry-up camp at the moment. The Senate Democratic leadership has pushed through a rule change ensuring that all appointments except for Supreme Court justices are decided by majority vote, not the old three-fifths threshold. This means it would be much easier for the presidents pick if hearings start in November or December.

Definitely, we should have confirmation hearings as quickly as possible in the Senate, Senate Judiciary Chairman Pat Leahy (D) of Vermont told NBC News on Thursday.

Republicans, unsurprisingly, are generally clamoring for a slower process.

Allowing Democratic senators, many of whom will likely have just been defeated at the polls, to confirm Holders successor would be an abuse of power that should not be countenance, said Sen. Ted Cruz (R) of Texas.

But we say the choice here isnt that clear cut, in partisan terms. There are advantages for the Democrats in waiting to start the nomination process.

For the White House, lining up a Holder successor in a few weeks would be moving pretty fast. There are FBI background checks to make, pre-hearing interviews to get through to expose any possible weak points, and so forth. Plus, as of Friday, there did not appear to be any real front-runner for the post.

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How fast will White House push Eric Holder replacement? (+video)