"Roberts Vote Fraught With 2008 Politics"

[GreenPartyVoter]

WASHINGTON (AP) - Among the senators deciding whether to put John Roberts on the Supreme Court, no one may have more at stake than those with designs on the White House in 2008.

For those harboring the slightest interest in a presidential bid, the debate over the first high-court nominee in more than a decade leaves a tricky calculation: what to say - and not to say - about a jurist expected to steer the court to the right but whose enigmatic record makes him difficult to predict.

"It matters a lot for the party activists. It matters some for primary voters. And it matters a little for undecided general election voters," said Jack Pitney, government professor at Claremont McKenna College. "Even if it matters for 5 percent of the electorate - no candidate can ignore that."

In Roberts, Bush chose a federal appeals court judge who has served in Republican administrations and is a certified conservative. He is regarded as possessing a razor-sharp intellect and a judicial record that covers few of the contentious topics capable of energizing special-interest groups.

http://apnews1.iwon.com/article/20050724/D8BI0HFO0.html