Estrada update

Here’s some Donald Lambro in the Washington Times:

One reason Democrats lost the Senate and several more House seats last year is that Republicans boosted their share of the Hispanic vote to 39 percent, a record in a midterm election. Mr. Bush is hoping to capture an even larger share of their vote in 2004. To this end, the White House is promoting Mr. Estrada's story with everything they've got in the Hispanic community.

Early evidence suggests the administration's campaign is beginning to pay off, at least politically. The Democrats' obstructionist tactics are stirring bitter resentment among Hispanic voters, according to officials at the more than 70 organizations that are supporting his nomination.

……

"This is a huge political blunder by Daschle and the Democrats and they are going to pay for it in next year's elections if they succeed in killing this nomination," an administration adviser told me.

Some top Democrats acknowledge that Republicans are making inroads among black and Hispanic voters, so Mr. Daschle's decision to filibuster Mr. Estrada may be one of the worst political decisions that his party has made in the last 50 years.