If this be a trial balloon, it's an awfully good one.

It is unclear how many potential nominees are undergoing White House vetting for the high court vacancy left by Justice Antonin Scalia's death. Obama was seen last week carrying a thick binder of materials on potential picks to review. Obama outlined his thinking in a guest posting on SCOTUSblog Wednesday: "A sterling record. A deep respect for the judiciary's role. An understanding of the way the world really works. That's what I'm considering as I fulfill my constitutional duty to appoint a judge to our highest court." Some Democrats believe that nominating Sandoval could fracture the front of Republican opposition and force McConnell to take up the nomination in this contentious election year. It would also put on the spot a handful of Senate Republicans who are up for reelection in blue states in November.

There is no question that nominating Brian Sandoval would fulfill many of the political goals we set forth yesterday with regard to the president's response to the self-destructive obstinance of the Senate Republican leadership. Sandoval is a well-regarded governor, Hispanic, and he's a Republican, although if he accepts this nomination, he's likely to be read out of the party forever. Opposing him would be blind and stupid. Sandoval has a reputation among many people as a devoted member of that ever-dwindling faction of the Republican Party that fairly can be called Not Insane. He is moderately pro-choice, considers marriage equality to be a done deal, signed the largest tax increase in Nevada's history, largely supports the president's position on immigration reform, and even has fought against his state legislature's attempts to enact tort reform. He also has sought to pry Nevada's economy loose from its dependence on the gaming industry. His patron has been Democratic Senator Harry Reid; it was Reid who pushed for Sandoval to become a federal district judge in 2004, and Reid apparently is masterminding this latest move. None of this, as you can imagine, has endeared Sandoval to the denizens of the wild kingdom.

"There's been this dramatic betrayal," says the staunchly anti-tax Republican Assemblyman Ira Hansen, a Ted Cruz supporter who has become a public face of conservative opposition to Sandoval. "Sandoval went totally moderate liberal on us. If there was a referendum tomorrow, you'd find a dramatically different result among the Republican party base."

(And, hell, like my sainted grandmother, Sandoval grew up on a sheep farm, so there's that, too.)

Sandoval was on the bench for five years before resigning to run for governor. His judicial track record is therefore sparse, although his political track record gives Sandoval a far better right to call himself a "moderate" than, say, John Kasich has. I admit that there is a small warning bell going off in my head that the president is going back to his "There are no red states. There are no blue states." persona that failed him so badly in the early days of his administration. But this does not appear to be the same thing as proposing to put Judd Gregg in the Cabinet. This really would put the Republicans east of the rock and west of the hard place. For now, I'm open to the notion. I still don't think Sandoval will get a hearing, however. The Republicans seem ready to ride this dirigible all the way into the ground.

Charles P. Pierce Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976.

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