That’s the subtitle of my latest Confirmation Tales post in which I discuss the surprising role that Bill Clinton’s nominations of Rosemary Barkett and Lee Sarokin played in Senate races across the country in 1994. An excerpt:
Republican candidates discovered that they could score points in a political fight over liberal judges. Many Republicans had, I think, drawn from the searing defeat of Robert Bork’s Supreme Court nomination in 1987 the mistaken lesson that fighting over judges was a political loser for conservatives. They were now learning otherwise.
Election Night in 1994 was a shocker. Republicans, with a gain of 54 seats, won control of the House for the first time in decades. They also won control of the Senate by gaining eight seats, giving them a 52-48 margin. [Bill] Frist, [Fred] Thompson, and [Rick] Santorum were among the newly elected senators. Frist trounced Sasser by 14 points, Thompson won by 22 points, and Santorum fought to a 2-1/2 point victory.
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