Reid: "Ted Olson Will Not Be Confirmed By The Senate."

By Martin Kady II

(The Politico)  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has made a pre-emptive strike against one of President Bush's potential nominees for attorney general, vowing that the Senate will not confirm Ted Olson.

Olson is perhaps best known by the general public as the attorney who represented George W. Bush and Dick Cheney in the Supreme Court case that decided the contested 2000 election, and that does not rest well with Democrats.

"Ted Olson will not be be confirmed by the Senate," Reid said after a Capitol news conference. "I intend to do everything I can to prevent him from being confirmed as the next attorney general."

Reid's comments were provided by his office to the Politico on Wednesday afternoon and first reported by Reuters.

If the Senate majority leader has declared a potential nominee as a nonstarter, Bush may have to look at the other potential nominees because Reid controls the Senate calendar.

This week Mike Allen of the Politico reported that other potential nominees include U.S. district chief judge Michael Mukasey of New York; Laurence H. Silberman, a senior circuit judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit; George J. Terwilliger, a former deputy attorney general under President George H.W. Bush; and Larry D. Thompson, a former deputy attorney general in this administration.