One interesting aspect of the resignation of Alberto Gonzales is the degree to which the potential battle in the senate over his replacement's confirmation will take place against the backdrop of the fight for the Democratic nomination for president. With four current US senators vying for the nomination and Bush's replacement nominee likely to come before the end of the year, the senators would no doubt savor the opportunity to use the battle to win favor with the Democratic base. The value of that opportunity will, of course, depend on who Bush's nominee is.

So it was interesting that, on the heels of CNN's Political Ticker blog's reporting that...

Senior administration officials were quick to tell CNN's Suzanne Malveaux that Homeland Security head Michael Chertoff would likely get the nod.

...Senator Clinton concluded her statement in response to Gonzales's resignation with a not so veiled reference to Chertoff, on whose watch FEMA so tragically failed to respond to Hurricane Katrina:

The second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina is one more reminder that the President must appoint someone to lead the Department of Justice with the leadership and competence necessary to defend the Constitution.

CNN is backtracking on the Chertoff story a bit, now reporting that:

Some senior administration officials floated Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff as a possible replacement, but others waved CNN away from Chertoff, saying that his nomination could run into problems because of his role during Hurricane Katrina.

But certainly Clinton's pre-emptive dig at Chertoff signaled that she is ready to take his nomination on. Not only would this fit nicely into the narrative that she's the best candidate to take on the right-wing machine, but it would also serve as sweet revenge.

From The Politicker:

Recall that the former First Lady has a history with Chertoff, who served as the lead G.O.P. Counsel to the Senate committee that investigated Whitewater in the mid-1990s -- and perhaps nothing makes Hillary Clinton more irate than the memory of that probe. Indeed, she cast the lone Senate vote against Chertoff's nomination to the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in 2003, citing his Whitewater conduct as her rationale.

If President Bush does nominate Chertoff for Attorney General, Hillary will have plenty of ammunition to go after him, as her Katrina comment today demonstrated. And in going after him, she would undoubtedly score points with the Democratic base (especially if she took a leading role in any nomination fight), thereby burnishing her primary season credentials. At the same time, of course, she'd also be getting even with her old nemesis, especially her effort resulted in the death of his nomination.

Clinton isn't the only one taking advantage of the rumored Chertoff nomination, of course. John Edwards, certainly not one to cede an issue to Senator Clinton, actually turned it into a fundraising ask:

Latching onto press speculation that President Bush will name Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff as Gonzales' replacement, [senior advisor Joe] Trippi warns that Edwards needs his supporters' help to fight such an unacceptable nomination.

"Gonzales is out--but another crony may be on their way in. Help John lead the fight against crony out, crony in at the Justice Department--make a contribution today.," Trippi wrote.

To be honest, I find it hard to believe the Democrats + Lieberman wouldn't be united against Chertoff right off the bat based on his failure during Katrina alone, but certainly the rivals for the Democratic nomination would relish the chance to lead the opposition against him for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that it would present a no-lose opportunity to rally the progressive blogosphere to their side, an opportunity that is actually far more valuable to Clinton at this point than to Edwards.

Update [2007-8-27 20:41:59 by Todd Beeton]: Some other less contentious names that CNN has cited as possible replacement Attorney General nominees include Larry Thompson, "the former deputy Attorney General until 2003, and now a general counsel at PepsiCo Corporation," Ted Olsen, former United States Solicitor General, and George Terwilliger, a former deputy Attorney General.