White House launches Sotomayor PR offensive

The White House, perhaps sensing a tougher partisan fight over Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, has gone on the PR offensive.

A month after Stephanie Cutter, a key Obama administration insider credited with rehabilitating Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's image, moved to the White House to coordinate the push for Sotomayor's confirmation, the White House has begun issuing statements highlighting the praise Sotomayor has received since her nomination -- from high-profile Republicans as well as Democrats and liberals.

Titled, "What They're Saying about Judge Sonia Sotomayor," the statement quotes Kenneth Starr, the independent counsel who investigated President Clinton, as saying he "thinks very well of" Sotomayor. Walter K. Olson, a conservative scholar and editor of a pro-tort reform web site, contends that attacks against Sotomayor have reduced her to "a caricature," adding that "no one could be that liberal, even if they tried."

Others singing Sotomayor's praises in the statement include former President George H.W. Bush, who appointed Sotomayor to the federal bench, as well as several GOP senators -- including Orrin Hatch of Utah, Mel Martinez of Florida, Olympia Snowe of Maine and Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee and a former federal judicial nominee.

A top Democratic operative, Cutter was a senior aide to Massachusetts Senator Edward M. Kennedy and helped manage the party's opposition to Republican judicial nominees, including Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Samuel Alito. Though most political analysts expect Sotomayor will be confirmed when hearings begin this summer, Republicans have not ruled out the possibility of using a filibuster or some other procedural move to sidetrack her nomination.