THE HARD TRUTH ABOUT RACE:

President Renominating Federal Judge Lott Backed (NEIL A. LEWIS, January 8, 2003, NY Times)

President Bush said tonight that he was renominating Judge Charles W. Pickering Sr. of Mississippi to a federal appeals court, a step that will almost certainly set off a Senate debate over racial issues reminiscent of those that toppled Senator Trent Lott as majority leader.

Mr. Bush also named 30 other candidates for federal judgeships, many of them nominated, but like Judge Pickering not confirmed, in the last Congressional session, when Democrats controlled the Senate.

Judge Pickering, of the Federal District Court in Hattiesburg, Miss., seeks a seat on the federal appeals court in New Orleans. Mr. Bush initially nominated him largely at the behest of Mr. Lott, a longtime political supporter from Judge Pickering's home state. But the Senate Judiciary Committee rejected the nomination along party lines last March, after heated arguments over his record on civil rights in Mississippi.

Here's further evidence that Karl Rove--who in the media caricature is the evil, wholly-political genius driving the administration's every action--does not think there's much political risk in the race issue for the GOP. Posted by Orrin Judd at January 8, 2003 9:24 AM